Nature Reviews Genetics | AOP, published online 9 October 2012; doi:10.1038/nrg3347
DISEASE GENOMICS pathogenic bacteria. In terms of
specific functions, T2D metagenomes
Associations go metagenome-wide are enriched for genes involved in
sulphate reduction and response to oxidative stress. Alterations in the human microbiome and 74 controls), and the resulting The authors also explored whether are increasingly being linked to metagenomic information was used to the associations could provide diseases, but new methods are needed update the existing reference. Next, biomarkers for T2D. They identified to probe these links more quickly and in the authors carried out a two-stage a set of 50 genes that provided the more detail. The publication of the first MGWA study. First, they quantified gut best discrimination between cases metagenome-wide association (MGWA) microbial genes from the same 145 cases and controls and tested whether this study which identifies changes in and controls and identified genes that set could distinguish affected and the microbial composition of the gut are significantly enriched in individuals unaffected individuals in another that are associated with type 2 diabetes with T2D. These associations were then group. The results were promising, this approach (T2D) is an important step towards validated in a second analysis using providing better specificity than these goals. another 200 Chinese individuals, giving a human genetic markers. promises a Jun Wang and colleagues developed set of 52,484 reliable gene associations. With other MGWA studies underway, host of new an approach that is analogous to the By analysing the functional and this approach promises a host of insights into genome-wide association study design: taxonomic groupings of the associated new insights into microbial functions they compared the composition of the genes, the authors were able to explore that are perturbed for a number of microbial gut metagenome between Chinese perturbations of the gut microbiome in important human diseases and will functions that individuals with T2D and an unaffected T2D. Overall, the T2D microbiome potentially allow the development are perturbed control group. The first step was to showed a mild but significant degree of improved tools for identifying and develop a suitable reference gut of dysbiosis: that is, a disruption of the monitoring disease states. for a number metagenome, as the existing reference normal balance of the microbiota. Wang Louisa Flintoft of important did not include data from the Chinese and colleagues particularly note a lower ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER Qin, J. et al. human population. Whole-genome sequencing abundance of butyrate-producing A metagenome-wide association study of gut was carried out on faecal samples bacteria in T2D microbiomes and an microbiota in type 2 diabetes. Nature 26 Sep diseases from 145 Chinese individuals (71 cases increase in opportunistic species of 2012 (doi:10.1038/nature11450)
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NATURE REVIEWS | GENETICS VOLUME 13 | NOVEMBER 2012
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