Gut Microbiota
The microbial communities that inhabit our gastrointestinal tract, termed the gut microbiota, are well known to play a fundamental role in many host processes, and our understanding of these complex communities continues to advance at a rapid pace. Research has characterized the gut microbiota in health and disease at increasing resolution, aided by the continuous development of tools and approaches. Greater mechanistic understanding of how our microbial partners, including the non-bacterial members, contribute to or protect against disease is a major focus of recent initiatives with the ultimate goal of translating these findings into clinical applications.
This collection brings together Research, Reviews and Comment published in several Nature journals covering key topics on the gut microbiota. The selected content has been published over the past year in Nature, Nature Microbiology, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Microbiology, Nature Reviews Genetics and Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology, some of which have been made freely available for 6 months, thanks to support from Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.
This Collection is editorially independent, produced with financial support from a third party. About this content.
Nature Research is pleased to acknowledge financial support of Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. in producing this Nature Collection. The sponsor retains sole responsibility for the following message.
For several decades, Yakult has maintained its commitment to improving human health by researching lactobacilli and through the development of its food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical businesses. Today, the company’s responsibilities extend beyond basic health to embrace global social and environmental challenges.
Yakult Central Institute has been conducting a wide range of studies in gut microbiota, probiotics, intestinal immunity and other areas of basic research, as well as in the development of food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, in order to accelerate research and development with unified structure from basic research to product feasibility assessment. Above all, the Institute works to understand the relationship between human health and gut microbiota, focusing on basic research into the structures and functions of microbiota. ‘YIF-SCAN®’ (Yakult Intestinal Flora Scan) is Yakult’s state-of-the-art system that analyses gut microbiota by selectively quantifying bacteria based on unique individual gene sequences.
Yakult’s network extends through Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe and its products of probiotics are consumed in 39 countries and regions. As of 2017, daily global consumption of Yakult dairy products numbered more than 39 million. Yakult continues to strive to deepen its understanding of lactobacilli and support good health for all.
