Jeffrey Gordon and colleagues sequenced fecal microbiota sampled from 37 healthy adult individuals over time (Science 341, 1237439, 2013). The authors used a newly developed LEA-seq method for amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA that has been demonstrated to have higher precision than existing methods. They compared the bacterial composition of the gut microbiota within an individual across time points for a collection of 33 individuals from whom samples were obtained 2–13 times over the course of 5 years. They found that, although the bacterial composition did change, over 70% of the same strains were present after 1 year, and a core set remained constant over longer time scales. Strains present in greater abundance were more likely to remain constant over time, as were members of the Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria phyla. The authors also sequenced fecal microbiota from four individuals participating in an in-patient weight-loss study, from whom samples were obtained every 16 d for 32 weeks while patients were on a controlled liquid diet. These individuals showed reduced bacterial strain stability over time. They also showed a negative correlation between weight stability, as measured by absolute change in body mass index (BMI) between time points, and bacterial strain stability. Finally, the authors found enrichment of shared strains in fecal microbiota for related individuals.
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