The human gastrointestinal tract harbours a complex community of microbes, which plays a prominent role in human health. Metagenomics has started to shed light on the functional repertoire of the intestinal microbiota. This repertoire and its variation between healthy and diseased individuals opens avenues for microbiota based diagnostics, as well as rationalization of microbiota management strategies using nutritional interventions aiming to modulate the health status of the consumer.
Despite these advances, it is important to realise that the microbiota composition varies between different locations in the GI tract and that the majority of these metagenomic studies have targeted the large intestine (faecal) microbiota. Knowledge of the small intestine microbiota remains quite limited, which is a consequence of the poor accessibility of this compartment of the intestine. Nevertheless, the small intestine is a very prominent and initial site of diet and microbiota interaction with the host, while at the same time small intestinal interactions govern important host metabolic- and immune-functions that can be manipulated by dietary ingredients, including probiotics (van Baarlen et al. 2009; 2010).
This presentation will overview the complexity of the human intestine microbiota and its function, including a metagenomic view of the human small intestine microbiome (Zoetendal et al. 2011). It will also address the molecular analysis of intestinal responses to probiotic interventions that explain previously observed clinical effects but may also predict novel applications of these dietary microbes and their clinical consequences in humans.
References: Van Baarlen et al. 2009, PNAS, 106:2371-2376; Van Baarlen et al. 2010, PNAS, 108, Suppl 1:4562-4569; Zoetendal et al. 2011, submitted for publication
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