title: Gut check: testing a role for the intestinal microbiome in human obesity.
abstract: By using germ-free mice transplanted with human fecal microbiota, scientists show that a high-fat, high-sugar diet durably changes the transplanted microbiome and that this diet-altered microbiome promotes obesity. This model should encourage investigation of the gut microbiome as a contributor to human metabolic disease and permit discovery of targets for the prevention and treatment of these disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jeffrey_flier@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Flier
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mekalanos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D009765:Obesity / Q000382:microbiology*