State Key Laboratory for Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang Campus, Shanghai 200240, China.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2013 Sep;11(9):639-47. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3089. Epub 2013 Aug 5.
The gut microbiota has been linked with chronic diseases such as obesity in humans. However, the demonstration of causality between constituents of the microbiota and specific diseases remains an important challenge in the field. In this Opinion article, using Koch's postulates as a conceptual framework, I explore the chain of causation from alterations in the gut microbiota, particularly of the endotoxin-producing members, to the development of obesity in both rodents and humans. I then propose a strategy for identifying the causative agents of obesity in the human microbiota through a combination of microbiome-wide association studies, mechanistic analysis of host responses and the reproduction of diseases in gnotobiotic animals.
肠道微生物群与人类的肥胖等慢性疾病有关。然而，证明微生物群的组成成分与特定疾病之间存在因果关系仍然是该领域的一个重要挑战。在这篇观点文章中，我使用科赫假设作为概念框架，探讨了从肠道微生物群的改变，特别是内毒素产生菌的改变，到啮齿动物和人类肥胖发展的因果关系。然后，我通过宏基因组关联研究、宿主反应的机制分析以及无菌动物疾病的再现，提出了一种在人类微生物群中识别肥胖致病因子的策略。
