Bacterial biogeography of the human digestive tract

• DOI: 10.1038/srep00170
• Publication Date: 2011-11-25T14:08:44Z
• Authors: Jennifer C. Stearns; Michael D. J. Lynch; Dilani B. Senadheera; Howard C. Tenenbaum; Michael B. Goldberg; Dennis G. Cvitkov...; Kenneth Croitoru; Gabriel Moreno-Ha...; Josh D. Neufeld
• Keywords: Phylogenetic diversity; Human Microbiome Project; Operational taxonomic unit

We present bacterial biogeography as sampled from the human gastrointestinal tract of four healthy subjects. This study generated >32 million paired-end sequences 16S rRNA genes (V3 region) representing >95,000 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs; 97% similarity clusters), with >99% Good's coverage for all samples. The highest OTU richness and phylogenetic diversity was found in mouth microbial communities multiple biopsy sites within colon were highly similar individuals largely distinct those stool. Within an individual, overlap among broad site definitions (mouth, stomach/duodenum, stool) ranged 32–110 OTUs, 25 which common to included OTUs affiliated Faecalibacterium prasnitzii TM7 phylum. first comprehensive characterization abundant rare microflora along digestive represents essential groundwork investigate further how microbiome relates health disease.