Endocrine Abstracts

The gut microbiota is a major component of mammalian biocomplexity exerting a significant influence on the metabolic phenotype of the host. The genetic entourage of these intestinal residents, collectively termed the gut microbiome, encodes a diverse array of metabolic capabilities that far exceed the relatively limited host genome. Cross-talk exists between the microbiome and genome through a variety of mechanisms with implications for both host health and disease. Biochemical exchange is one such communication channel where microbial metabolites enter the metabolic system of the host and modulate endogenous and exogenous pathways. This has implications at the local gut level and also at the systemic level. Through such exchange the intestinal microbiome has been implicated in obesity via a variety of mechanisms. This includes altered energy harvest from the diet, modulation of appetite regulation, and modification of the enterohepatic circulation with downstream consequences for lipid digestion, metabolism and bile acid signaling pathways. Using powerful systems biology techniques such as metataxonomics, metabolomics/metabonomics, and transcriptomics, the dynamic and multidimensional interplay between the genome and microbiome is being characterised and the wide-reaching influence of the gut microbiota on host health is being understood.