Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Gut microbiota

How to build healthy growth-promoting gut communities

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 13, pages 379–380 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Altered patterns of gut microbiota maturation are associated with impaired growth and undernutrition in early childhood. A closer look at historical contingency and the ecological processes that determine microbial community assembly might enlighten strategies to restore a health-promoting gut ecosystem.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Costello, E. K. et al. The application of ecological theory toward an understanding of the human microbiome. Science 336, 1255–1262 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Blanton, L. V. et al. Gut bacteria that prevent growth impairments transmitted by microbiota from malnourished children. Science 351, aad3311 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Charbonneau, M. R. et al. Sialylated milk oligosaccharides promote microbiota-dependent growth in models of infant undernutrition. Cell 164, 859–871 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Smith, M. I. et al. Gut microbiomes of Malawian twin pairs discordant for kwashiorkor. Science 339, 548–554 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Subramanian, S. et al. Persistent gut microbiota immaturity in malnourished Bangladeshi children. Nature 510, 417–421 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Bode, L. The functional biology of human milk oligosaccharides. Early Hum. Dev. 91, 619–622 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Fukami, T. Historical contingency in community assembly: integrating niches, species pools, and priority effects. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 46, 1–23 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gomez de Agüero, M. et al. The maternal microbiota drives early postnatal innate immune development. Science 351, 1296–1302 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Chung, H. et al. Gut immune maturation depends on colonization with a host-specific microbiota. Cell 149, 1578–1593 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Medicine, and of Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305–5124, USA, and at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.,

    David A. Relman

Authors
  1. David A. Relman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David A. Relman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Relman, D. How to build healthy growth-promoting gut communities. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 13, 379–380 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2016.74

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2016.74

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing