CAJ | 학술논문

Before the technique of advanced high-throughput sequencing comes up , less is known about the human gut microbiota .It has been understood that trillions of microbes , in which 99% are bacteria , inhabit the human gut, forming a complicated ecological community .The gut microbiota has a great impact on human physiology and suscepti -bility to disease through its integrative metabolic activities and interactions with the host .In physiology , gut microbiota con-tributes to the host acquisition of nutrition and energy from diets , promoting development and maturation of gastrointestinal tract and immune system , and protecting host from invasion of enteropathogens .In pathology , dysbiosis underlying altered gut microbiota is associated with the susceptibilities to various diseases , including inflammatory bowel disease , type 1 dia-betes, asthma, obesity, metabolic syndrome , autism and cancer .Understanding of the factors that underlie alterations in the composition and function of gut microbiota will be helpful in the development of drugs and the design of therapies that target it.This goal is formidable .It is because that the compositions of gut microbiota are immensely diverse , varying be-tween individuals in a population and fluctuating over time in an individual , especially during early development and disea-ses.Viewing the gut microbiota with an ecological perspective will provide new insights into how to improve our health by targeting this microbial community in clinical treatments .