Gut bacteria can control organ functions

[Celebration]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-gut-bacteria-functions.html

Bacteria in the human gut may not just be helping digest food but also could be exerting some level of control over the metabolic functions of other organs, like the liver, according to research published this week in the online journal mBio. These findings offer new understanding of the symbiotic relationship between humans and their gut microbes and how changes to the microbiota can impact overall health.


"The gut microbiota enhances the host's metabolic capacity for processing nutrients and drugs and modulates the activities of multiple pathways in a variety of organ systems," says Sandrine Claus of the Imperial College of London, a researcher on the study.

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"Here we describe the first evidence of an in vivo association between a family of bacteria and hepatic lipid metabolism. These results provide new insights into the fundamental mechanisms that regulate host-gut microbiota interactions and are of wide interest to microbiological, nutrition, metabolic, systems biology and pharmaceutical research communities," says Claus.

[necso]

1. We're really communities, not individuals.

And what affects one part of that community can affect other parts.

And I think that this is an area where significant advances in understanding are to be made. (I also think that gene-expression is another such area. And I suspect that genetic evolution may hold some (more) surprises.)