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  • Genome Watch
  • Published:

Say hello to our little friends

Abstract

Our intestines are home to a numerous and diverse community of microorganisms, collectively termed the gut microbiota. This month's Genome Watch covers two papers that have characterized some of these gut symbionts.

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Figure 1: Capsule formation by Methanobrevibacter smithii.

References

  1. Xu, J. et al. Evolution of symbiotic bacteria in the distal human intestine. PLoS Biology 19 June 2007 (doi:10.1371/journal. pbio. 0050156).

  2. Samuel, B. S. et al. Genomic and metabolic adaptations of Methanobrevibacter smithii to the human gut. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 10643–10648 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Gill, S. R. et al. Metagenomic analysis of the human distal gut microbiome. Science 312, 1355–1359 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

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DATABASES

Entrez Genome

YCH 46

NCTC 9343

Entrez Genome Project

Bacteroides vulgatus

Bacteroides distasonis

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron

Porphyromonas gingivalis

Cytophaga hutchinsonii

Methanobrevibacter smithii

Methanosphaera stadtmanae

FURTHER INFORMATION

Genome Watch

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Walker, A. Say hello to our little friends. Nat Rev Microbiol 5, 572–573 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1720

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1720

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