In sickness or in health, the billions of microorganisms that inhabit our guts are our constant companions throughout life. In the past few decades, scientists have shown how the nature of this 'microbiome' can provide valuable clues to human diseases and their treatment.
European Molecular Biology LaboratoryNov 14 2024 In sickness or in health, the billions of microorganisms that inhabit our guts are our constant companions throughout life. In the past few decades, scientists have shown how the nature of this 'microbiome' can provide valuable clues to human diseases and their treatment.
To illustrate this, imagine that only 1,000 bacteria live in your gut. In healthy individuals, this might include 10 bacteria of species 'red', and 20 bacteria of species 'blue', so we could say red bacteria make up 2% of the microbiome while blue bacteria make up 5%. However, in individuals who have a particular disease, we might notice red bacteria make up 4% of the microbiome – a relative increase, while blue bacteria remain at 5%.
Using machine learning to make microbiome studies more robust "We wanted to develop a new method that required no additional experimental methods to quantify microbial load," said Suguru Nishijima, the study's first author and a postdoc in the Bork Group. "We had access to large datasets with both microbial composition and experimentally measured microbial load data.
Related StoriesThey found that many factors can influence microbial load. For example, diarrhoea can reduce the number of microbes in the gut, while constipation can increase them. Women have, on average, a higher microbial load than men , while young people have a smaller average microbial load than elderly people. Many diseases, as well as the drugs used to treat them, significantly alter microbial load.
Bacteria Cell Constipation Machine Learning Microbiome Research
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