The bodies of mammals are hosts to vast microbial communities composed of trillions of bacteria from thousands of species, whose effects on health and development have begun to be appreciated only recently. In this investigation, an integrated analysis combining proteomics and transcriptomics was used to quantitatively compare the terminal ilia from conventional and germfree mice. Female and ma...

BACKGROUND Gut microbiota provide functions of importance to influence hosts' food digestion, metabolism, and protection against pathogens. Factors that affect the composition and functions of gut microbial communities are well studied in humans and other animals; however, we have limited knowledge of how natural food web factors such as stress from predators and food resource rations could aff...

The present report describes the presentations delivered at the 7th International Yakult Symposium, 'The Intestinal Microbiota and Probiotics: Exploiting Their Influence on Health', in London on 22-23 April 2013. The following two themes associated with health risks were covered: (1) the impact of age and diet on the gut microbiota and (2) the gut microbiota's interaction with the host. The str...

this study was conducted to determine the effects of mannan oligosaccharide (mos) on growth, some immune responses and gut lactic acid bacteria of common carp. four experimental diets containing 0%, 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.20% mos were prepared. each diet was randomly allocated to triplicate groups of fish with initial average weight of approximately 14 g. after eight weeks, survival rate was high i...

The rapidly increasing number of people with obesity and type 2 diabetes is one of the most serious problems of the contemporary world. Until recently, it was thought that the main cause of this phenomenon is the change of lifestyle and dietary habits. According to recent reports, the gut microbiota may also play an important role in the "epidemic" of obesity and diabetes. Changes in its compos...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of diseases characterized by inflammation of the small and large intestine and primarily includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Although the etiology of IBD is not fully understood, it is believed to result from the interaction of genetic, immunological, and environmental factors, including gut microbiota. Recent studies have shown a correla...

Host genotype and gender are among the factors that influence the composition of gut microbiota. We studied the population structure of gut microbiota in two lines of chickens maintained under the same husbandry and dietary regimes. The lines, which originated from a common founder population, had undergone 54 generations of selection for high (HW) or low (LW) 56-day body weight, and now differ...

Emerging evidence suggests a strong interaction between the gut microbiota and health and disease. The interactions of the gut microbiota and the liver have only recently been investigated in detail. Receiving approximately 70% of its blood supply from the intestinal venous outflow, the liver represents the first line of defense against gut-derived antigens and is equipped with a broad array of...