The gut microbiome is home to more than 1,000 different species of bacteria, and many researchers now believe it holds the key to unlocking disease-fighting superpowers. It has been linked to cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and even memory and personality. However, there is still much we have yet to discover about this microscopic universe within us, and how to properly harness it to prevent and treat disease.
Now, new research from the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, in collaboration with scientists from the Institute for Systems Biology in the United States and Monash University in Australia, has discovered a way to determine which species in the gut are most important and how their interactions influence health in the microbiome and broader biology, paving the way for new advances in treating a range of health problems including inflammatory bowel disease, infections, autoimmune diseases and cancer.
"A healthy gut is home to approximately 1,000 different species of bacteria - a microscopic, multicultural community with more than a trillion individual members," said Samuel Forster, associate professor at the Hudson Institute. "The bacteria in our microbiome live in communities and rely on each other to produce and share key nutrients."
Researchers say that by studying computational models of complex microbiomes, they can understand not only the makeup and interactions of microbes, but also how they affect the body around them.
"We developed a new computational method to understand these dependencies and their role in shaping our microbiome," Foster said. "This new approach unlocks our understanding of the gut microbiome and lays the foundation for new treatment options that selectively reshape microbial communities."
Crohn's disease is one example, which the research team demonstrated is linked to hydrogen sulfide in the microbiota. The researchers found that, contrary to previous studies, the disease was caused by a decrease in bacteria that use hydrogen sulfide, rather than an increase in hydrogen sulfide-producing species.
Foster and his team have a long-standing relationship with Adelaide-based biotech company BiomeBank, which is researching new ways to treat and prevent disease by restoring the gut microbiome. Through a collaboration between the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and BiomeBank, these insights into community structure will provide opportunities for rational selection of microbial combinations for targeted intervention.
Using computational methods to study microbial communities could be a key step in understanding how to target the complex relationships within the communities for meaningful health interventions.
"This is an important step toward developing complex microbial therapies," said lead author Vanessa Marcelino. "This approach allows us to identify and rank key interactions between bacteria and use this knowledge to predict targeted ways to alter the population."
The team is currently working with biotech company BiomeBank to put their findings into practice and find new ways to use gut microbiota ecology to treat and prevent disease.
"Through our collaboration with BiomeBank at the Hudson Institute of Medicine, these insights into community structure will provide opportunities for rational selection of microbial combinations for targeted intervention," Foster said.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.