Intestinal Health: Genetic Makeup and Diet Affect the Microbiome

First Posted: Sep 25, 2013 04:41 PM EDT
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A recent study shows how genetic makeup and diet can interact with the Microbiome to impact certain health issues.

Mayo Clinic researchers note that an individual's genomic makeup and diet can actually determine which microbes exist and how they act via a host intestine.

"Our data show that factors in the differences in a host's genetic makeup - in this case genes that affect carbohydrates in the gut - interact with the type of food eaten. That combination determines the composition and function of resident microbes," Purna Kashyap, M.B.B.S., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and first author of the study said, via a press release.Background information from the study notes that he is also a collaborator in the Microbiome Program of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.

The study shows that roughly 20 percent of humans lack the gene needed to encode proteins for processing specific carbohydrates, including a sugar in the intestinal mucus called fucose. This interaction demonstrates how many bacteria can adapt to the utilization of this component. Yet when certain diets have little or no complex plant sugar, bacteria are forced to change their function when a lack of hosts hold fucose.

Fucose works to provide the gastrointestinal track with a complex and competitive environment for the microbiota. In fact, according to the International journal Nature, the pathogen relies on an inter-kingdom of chemical sensing systems that regulate virulence gene expression and can be critical in the body.

The researchers altered this metabolic gene expression through one of the key microbes known as Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Changes in microbial membership and function have previously demonstrated through the study and other research that they could potentially foster a "digestive landscape" that can promote inflammatory conditions similar to Crohn's disease.

The study, which was modeled in germ-free knockout mice in order to mimic this genetic condition seen in 1 in 5 humans that can increase the risk of digestive illness, concludes with the following, via a press release: "The microbiome represents millions of microbes in the gut and elsewhere in the body. They perform specialized functions to help keep metabolism in balance. Whether in humans or other animals, the microbial combination is unique and must function well with the individual's genome and diet for a healthy existence."

More information regarding the study can be found via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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