Gut microbiota - beyond bacteria

​Everyone is all too familiar about our gut microbiota and the 'good' and 'bad' bacteria in our guts but the mycobiota often gets overlooked and our fungal friends and foes get forgotten.
Published in Microbiology
Gut microbiota - beyond bacteria
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Everyone is all too familiar about our gut microbiota and the 'good' and 'bad' bacteria in our guts but the mycobiota often gets overlooked and our fungal friends and foes get forgotten.

Fungal microbiota dysbiosis in IBD
Harry Sokol et al.
Gut doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2015-310746

In a new study published in the journal Gut, the researchers put a spotlight on fungi and aimed to characterise the faecal fungal microbiota in the context of IBD. They identified distinct fungal microbiota in patients with IBD, skewed towards an increased Basidiomycota:Ascomycota ratio, an increased proportion of Candida albicans and a decreased proportion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared with samples from healthy individuals. Specific bacteria-fungi associations were also observed in IBD. The pathogenesis of IBD is complex and it arises as a result of the interplay between genetics, the immune response, environment and gut microbiota. As such, it will be interesting to see exactly what role fungi have in disease development.

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Go to the profile of Melanie T. Cushion
over 8 years ago
I heartily agree. I study the mammalian lung which was once thought to be a privileged site until you discover fungi like Pneumocystis using methods other than direct culture.

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