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:

The gut microbiome—an emerging complex trait

As the first series of genetic analyses of gut microbiome composition in humans is now emerging, the results should be met with enthusiasm, but also with caution. Findings from the initial offerings demonstrate how population-scale approaches can provide deeper insights into host–microbiome interactions while at the same time illustrating that our understanding of the architecture of highly complex microbiome 'traits' is still rudimentary.

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

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

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

Figure 1: The spectrum of quantitative features of the microbiome giving rise to significant trait associations.

References

  1. Benson, A.K. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107, 18933–18938 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Org, E. et al. Genome Res. 25, 1558–1569 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. McKnite, A.M. et al. PLoS One 7, e39191 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Srinivas, G. et al. Nat. Commun. 4, 2462 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Leamy, L.J. et al. Genome Biol. 15, 552 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Blekhman, R. et al. Genome Biol. 16, 191 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Goodrich, J.K. et al. Cell 159, 789–799 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Goodrich, J.K. et al. Cell Host Microbe 19, 731–743 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Turpin, W. et al. Nat. Genet. 48, 1413–1417 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bonder, M.J. et al. Nat. Genet. 48, 1407–1412 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wang, J. et al. Nat. Genet. 48, 1396–1406 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Eichler, E.E. et al. Nat. Rev. Genet. 11, 446–450 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Costello, E.K., Stagaman, K., Dethlefsen, L., Bohannan, B.J.M. & Relman, D.A. Science 336, 1255–1262 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Visscher, P.M. Genetics 202, 377–379 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Visscher, P.M. & Yang, J. Nat. Genet. 48, 707–708 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew K Benson.

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

Benson, A. The gut microbiome—an emerging complex trait. Nat Genet 48, 1301–1302 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3707

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3707

This article is cited by

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