title: Metagenomic surveys of gut microbiota.
abstract: Gut microbiota of higher vertebrates is host-specific. The number and diversity of the organisms residing within the gut ecosystem are defined by physiological and environmental factors, such as host genotype, habitat, and diet. Recently, culture-independent sequencing techniques have added a new dimension to the study of gut microbiota and the challenge to analyze the large volume of sequencing data is increasingly addressed by the development of novel computational tools and methods. Interestingly, gut microbiota maintains a constant relative abundance at operational taxonomic unit (OTU) levels and altered bacterial abundance has been associated with complex diseases such as symptomatic atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and colorectal cancer. Therefore, the study of gut microbial population has emerged as an important field of research in order to ultimately achieve better health. In addition, there is a spontaneous, non-linear, and dynamic interaction among different bacterial species residing in the gut. Thus, predicting the influence of perturbed microbe-microbe interaction network on health can aid in developing novel therapeutics. Here, we summarize the population abundance of gut microbiota and its variation in different clinical states, computational tools available to analyze the pyrosequencing data, and gut microbe-microbe interaction networks.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics Centre, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata 700010, India.
authors.forename: Rahul Shubhra
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute, Kolkata 700054, India. Electronic address: ssaha4@jcbose.ac.in.
authors.forename: Sudipto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics Centre, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata 700010, India; Division of Clinical Medicine, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata 700010, India. Electronic address: dasss@icmr.org.in.
authors.forename: Santasabuj
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D044822:Biodiversity; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000382:microbiology; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000235:genetics*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods*; D056265:Microbial Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: 16S rRNA; Disease; Microbial interaction network; Operational taxonomic unit; Sequencing