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Categorization of the gut microbiota: enterotypes or gradients?

Abstract

Grouping the microbiota of individual subjects into compositional categories, or enterotypes, based on the dominance of certain genera may have oversimplified a complex situation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are supported in part by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, Ireland, and the Irish Government Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine.

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Correspondence to Paul W. O'Toole.

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F. Shanahan declares an association with the following companies: Alimentary Health Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Ltd and the Procter and Gamble Co. The content of this paper was neither influenced nor constrained by that fact. I. B. Jeffery, M. J. Claesson and P. W. O'Toole declare no competing financial interests.

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Jeffery, I., Claesson, M., O'Toole, P. et al. Categorization of the gut microbiota: enterotypes or gradients?. Nat Rev Microbiol 10, 591–592 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2859

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