Gut Bacteria: A New Way to Study Health and Disease

The human gut is home to trillions of bacteria. These tiny organisms play a big role in keeping us healthy. They can also be linked to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Scientists have been studying these bacteria using different methods. One method is metagenomics. It helps identify bacteria and their connection to health or disease. But there's a catch. Scientists often struggle to get actual samples of these bacteria for further study. A recent study tried to solve this problem. Researchers took fecal samples from 32 people. Some had IBD, and others were healthy. They grew bacteria from these samples. In the end, they had 4, 347 bacterial isolates. Out of these, 1, 362 came from people with IBD. The most common types of bacteria found were Actinomycetota, Bacillota, and Bacteroidota. Other types like Campylobacterota, Fusobacteriota, Pseudomonadota, Thermodesulfobacteriota, and Verrucomicrobiota were less common. The study compared the results from this method, called culturomics, with metagenomic data. They found that both methods identified similar types of bacteria. But when used together, they could find even more types. This shows that combining both methods can give better results. The study also looked at two strains of Bifidobacterium adolescentis. They found that these strains were very similar to the bacteria identified through metagenomics in the same person. This is a big deal. It means scientists can now isolate specific bacteria for further study. The study's findings are promising. It shows that culturomics can be a valuable tool. It can help validate the findings from metagenomic studies. This could open new doors for understanding how gut bacteria affect our health.