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Gut microbiota in 2015

Prevotella in the gut: choose carefully

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 13, pages 69–70 (2016)Cite this article

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Gut microbial communities often contain many Bacteroides or their close relatives, Prevotella, but not both. Prevotella strains are associated with plant-rich diets but are also linked with chronic inflammatory conditions. In 2015, papers probed the genomic diversity of Prevotella strains and interactions of Prevotella copri with its host and other bacteria.

The wealth of data now available regarding human microbiota composition across populations shows that, on the whole, the most abundant bacteria in the human gut belong to two phyla, the Firmicutes and the Bacteroidetes. Of the members of the Bacteroidetes, two genera dominate — Bacteroides and Prevotella. The majority of Westerners harbour an abundance of Bacteroides and, in an apparent trade-off in numerical dominance within the microbiota, a small minority carry Prevotella1,2. Prevotella is more common in non-Westerners who consume a plant-rich diet, which was most recently shown for Papua New Guineans2 and has been linked to vegetarianism in Western populations3. The association with a plant-rich diet has suggested that Prevotella is a beneficial microbe. However, Prevotella in the gut has also been linked with inflammatory conditions4,5. Several studies published in 2015 probe the genetic diversity of this genus and start to delve into the basis of its associations with health and disease.

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Affiliations

  1. Ruth Ley is at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, USA and Department of Microbiome Science, 467 Biotech, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstrasse 35, Tübingen 72076, Germany.

    Ruth E. Ley

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  1. Ruth E. Ley
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Correspondence to Ruth E. Ley.

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Jain, N. & Walker, W. A. Diet and host–microbial crosstalk in postnatal intestinal immune homeostasis. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 12, 14–25 (2015)

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Ley, R. Prevotella in the gut: choose carefully. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 13, 69–70 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2016.4

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