Inflammation-associated enterotypes, host genotype, cage and inter-individual effects drive gut microbiota variation in common laboratory mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Murine models are a crucial component of gut microbiome research. Unfortunately, a multitude of genetic backgrounds and experimental setups, together with inter-individual variation, complicates cross-study comparisons and a global understanding of the mouse microbiota landscape. Here, we investigate the variability of the healthy mouse microbiota of five common lab mouse strains using 16S rDNA pyrosequencing.

Results

We find initial evidence for richness-driven, strain-independent murine enterotypes that show a striking resemblance to those in human, and which associate with calprotectin levels, a marker for intestinal inflammation. After enterotype stratification, we find that genetic, caging and inter-individual variation contribute on average 19%, 31.7% and 45

SUBMITTER: Hildebrand F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4053703 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature