Communities of microbial eukaryotes in the mammalian gut within the context of environmental eukaryotic diversity.

ABSTRACT: Eukaryotic microbes (protists) residing in the vertebrate gut influence host health and disease, but their diversity and distribution in healthy hosts is poorly understood. Protists found in the gut are typically considered parasites, but many are commensal and some are beneficial. Further, the hygiene hypothesis predicts that association with our co-evolved microbial symbionts may be important to overall health. It is therefore imperative that we understand the normal diversity of our eukaryotic gut microbiota to test for such effects and avoid eliminating commensal organisms. We assembled a dataset of healthy individuals from two populations, one with traditional, agrarian lifestyles and a second with modern, westernized lifestyles, and characterized the human eukaryotic microbiota via h

SUBMITTER: Parfrey LW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4063188 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature