Phage community in the gut

The gut microbiome has an important role in human health, but the role of phages in maintaining the structure and function of the gut microbial community is unclear. Manrique et al. analysed phages that are associated with the gut microbiome of healthy individuals and identified 23 phages that were common in more than half of the individuals. This set of gut microbiome phages was less prevalent in individuals with gastrointestinal disease, which suggests that they have a role in human health. Next, the authors investigated the structure of the phage community using a network analysis tool. They identified 44 phage groups, of which nine were shared across more than 50% of healthy individuals. On the basis of their results, the authors propose the existence of a healthy gut phageome (HGP) that comprises a core, a common and a low overlap group. Future studies are required to elucidate the role of the phageome in health and disease. See it on Scoop.it, via Viruses and Bioinformatics from Virology.uvic.ca
Phage community in the gut
Source: Viral Bioinformatics