title: Linking Microbiota to Human Diseases: A Systems Biology Perspective.
abstract: The human gut microbiota encompasses a densely populated ecosystem that provides essential functions for host development, immune maturation, and metabolism. Alterations to the gut microbiota have been observed in numerous diseases, including human metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and irritable bowel syndrome, and some animal experiments have suggested causality. However, few studies have validated causality in humans and the underlying mechanisms remain largely to be elucidated. We discuss how systems biology approaches combined with new experimental technologies may disentangle some of the mechanistic details in the complex interactions of diet, microbiota, and host metabolism and may provide testable hypotheses for advancing our current understanding of human-microbiota interaction.
authors.affiliation: The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 41345 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 41345 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tremaroli
authors.affiliation: The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 41345 Gothenburg, Sweden; Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Section for Metabolic Receptology and Enteroendocrinology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: Fredrik.Backhed@wlab.gu.se.
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bäckhed
mesh_terms: D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D004032:Diet; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D049490:Systems Biology
keywords: diet; germ-free mice; human disease; microbiota; systems medicine