Enterotype

An enterotype is a classification of living organisms based on its bacteriological ecosystem in the human gut microbiome. The discovery of three human enterotypes was announced in the April 2011 issue of Nature by Peer Bork and his associates.[1][2]

Type 1 is characterized by high levels of Bacteroides while type 2 has few Bacteroides but Prevotella are common, and type 3 has high levels of Ruminococcus.[1][3][4]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Zimmer, Carl (April 20, 2011). "Bacteria Divide People Into 3 Types, Scientists Say". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/science/21gut.html. Retrieved April 21, 2011. "a group of scientists now report just three distinct ecosystems in the guts of people they have studied." 
  2. ^ Arumugam, Manimozhiyan*; Raes, Jeroen*,et al (April 2011). "Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome". Nature 473 (7346): 174–80. doi:10.1038/nature09944. PMID 21508958. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature09944.html. "Our knowledge of species and functional composition of the human gut microbiome is rapidly increasing, but it is still based on very few cohorts and little is known about variation across the world. By combining 22 newly sequenced faecal metagenomes of individuals from four countries with previously published data sets, here we identify three robust clusters (referred to as enterotypes hereafter) that are not nation or continent specific." 
  3. ^ Keim, Brandon (April 20, 2011). "Gut-Bacteria Mapping Finds Three Global Varieties". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/gut-bacteria-types/. Retrieved April 21, 2011. 
  4. ^ Coghlan, Andy (April 20, 2011). "Each human has one of only three gut ecosystems". New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20401-each-human-has-one-of-only-three-gut-ecosystems.html. Retrieved April 21, 2011.