title: A microbial perspective of human developmental biology.
abstract: When most people think of human development, they tend to consider only human cells and organs. Yet there is another facet that involves human-associated microbial communities. A microbial perspective of human development provides opportunities to refine our definitions of healthy prenatal and postnatal growth and to develop innovative strategies for disease prevention and treatment. Given the dramatic changes in lifestyles and disease patterns that are occurring with globalization, we issue a call for the establishment of 'human microbial observatories' designed to examine microbial community development in birth cohorts representing populations with diverse anthropological characteristics, including those undergoing rapid change.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.|Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Charbonneau
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.|Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Laura V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Blanton
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.|VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: DiGiulio
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.|Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Relman
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.|Foods for Health Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Carlito B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lebrilla
authors.affiliation: Foods for Health Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.|Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.|Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.|Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D015509:Developmental Biology; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000382:microbiology; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D064307:Microbiota / Q000502:physiology*; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology; D014886:Weaning