Gut Microbiota for Health: How Can Diet Maintain A Healthy Gut Microbiota?

摘要

The human intestinal tract is colonized by a resilient integrated ecosystem represented by a complex consortium of trillions of microbes. Overall, five phyla dominate the bacterial composition of the gut microbiota with the 90% of phylotypes identified in Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, whereas Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia are minor components. Each microorganism within the gut encodes unique metabolic functions which taken together comprise the gut microbiome. Indeed, the metabolic potential of the gut metagenome, or the sum of microbial encoded genes is about 100-fold that of the human genome, and even with functional redundancy between different microbial species, represents a metabolic potential rivaling that of the liver both in chemical diversity and impact on host health [1].