Xiandong Meng

TL;DR: In this paper , a defined community of 104 bacterial species composed of the most common taxa from the human gut microbiota (hCom1) was constructed and characterized in vitro, and mice were colonized with hCom1 and then challenged with a human fecal sample.

TL;DR: This study deeply sequenced infant stool samples from the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania and analyzed them in a global meta-analysis, finding population-specific differences in infant microbiome composition and function underscore the importance of studying microbiomes from people outside of wealthy, industrialized nations.

TL;DR: In this article , the authors developed an ingestible device that collects samples from multiple regions of the human intestinal tract during normal digestion, and subsequent multi-omics analyses identified significant differences between bacteria, phages, host proteins and metabolites in the intestines versus stool.

TL;DR: Overall, this work identified heterogeneous intestinal profiles of bacterial taxa and metabolites indicating that non-invasive multi-regional sampling of the intestinal tract under physiological conditions can help elucidate the roles of the gut microbiome and metabolome in human physiology and disease.

TL;DR: This work reveals that T cell recognition of Firmicutes is focused on a widely conserved cell-surface antigen, opening the door to new therapeutic strategies in which colonist-specific immune responses are rationally altered or redirected.