A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional descriptive metagenomic sequencing study of human faecal samples (design analogy)
PubMed 20203603 · doi:10.1038/nature08821
What was done
Illumina-based metagenomic sequencing, de novo assembly, and functional characterization were performed on faecal samples collected from 124 European individuals, generating 576.7 gigabases of sequence data to catalogue non-redundant human gut microbial genes and define a minimal gut metagenome.
What was found
The authors assembled a non-redundant catalogue of 3.3 million microbial genes, which is roughly 150 times the human gene complement. Over 99% of these genes were bacterial. The full cohort was estimated to harbour between 1,000 and 1,150 prevalent bacterial species, with each individual harbouring at least 160 such species that were substantially shared across individuals.
Why it matters
This study established the first large-scale reference catalogue of human gut microbial genes, providing a foundational baseline for comparative metagenomic studies of health and disease.
Limits
The cohort was restricted to 124 European individuals, limiting generalizability across diverse global populations, diets, and geographies. The abstract does not provide health status details, clinical metadata, or longitudinal follow-up to assess temporal stability of the minimal metagenome.
Cited by
- supports The human body harbors more than 3 million bacterial genes in addition to approximately 20,000 human genes.