Article: Humans have 3 distinct types of gut bacteria

It is interesting.

But it sounds like this was just discovered last year, so it's way too soon to know if or how the different enterotypes are involved in IBD. Hopefully someone out there is looking into it, though.

it is fascinating.

@Gary: I read that the enterotypes of the chimps shifted over time. Presumably in humans too. This complicates your idea of targeted treatment. But, all the articles do mention that the research might lead to more targeted treatments. It is just no clear exactly how that plays out.

Original discovery: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v473/n7346/full/nature09944.html

Study of Chimps: www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n11/full/ncomms2159.html

There is also a large PDF floating around that shows 3 distinct patterns of intestinal flora

1 - Those with UC
2 - Those with CD
3 - Those who are 'normal'

3 types. The good, the bad, and the ugly!

@guywithuc any idea where it is floating? my searches turned up nothing usefull

Madcat25 said...
3 types. The good, the bad, and the ugly!

@guywithuc any idea where it is floating? my searches turned up nothing usefull

I don't recall one large PDF making quite this clear-cut a claim, but there has been a lot of attention lately to the role of the gut microbes in IBD. There are some differences between IBD and healthy, and even between CD and UC.

for example said...


Dysbiosis, which is the disturbed microbial equilibrium
marked by a decrease in commensal bacteria
populations and an increase in pathogenic adherent
bacteria populations, has also been linked with IBD development.
For example, reduced proportions of
microorganisms such as Clostridium leptum and a loss
of diversity in bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes
phylum, along with the presence of new bacterial

Neuman, M. G., & Nanau, R. M. (2012). Inflammatory bowel disease: role of diet, microbiota, life style. Translational Research, 160(1), 29-44. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2011.09.001

Other research has looked at which species tend to bloom (over breed) after inflammation or leaky gut. However these changes appeared to be a result of the IBD and not the cause - although they might be involved in sustaining IBD.

Other recent reviews have highlighted some changes inthe composition of gut microbes that seem to go along with IBD, whether cause or consequence:


Nagalingam, N. A. and S. V. Lynch (2012). "Role of the microbiota in inflammatory bowel diseases." Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 18(5): 968-980.

Studying the role of the human microbiome as it relates to human health status has revolutionized our view of microbial community contributions to a large number of diseases, particularly chronic inflammatory disorders. The lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract houses trillions of microbial cells representing a large diversity of species in relatively well-defined phylogenetic ratios that are associated with maintenance of key aspects of host physiology and immune homeostasis. It is not surprising, therefore, that many GI inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are associated with substantial changes in the composition of these microbial assemblages, either as a cause or consequence of host inflammatory response. Here we review current knowledge in the emerging field of human microbiome research as it relates to IBD, specifically focusing on Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). We discuss bacteriotherapeutic efforts to restore GI microbial assemblage integrity via probiotic supplementation of IBD patients, and speculate on future directions for the field. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2011;)

That is an older study and it is not the one where I saw some CD/UC differences. In fact the Fig#2 and the associated text say that while CD/UC had significantly lower diversity of gut microbes than normal controls, there were no significant differences between CD and UC. (See last paragraph p. 688).

This paper was mainly about the technology of gene sequencing to index diversity versus older technology of culturing samples and identifying species under a microscope.

It is this new technology, that obviates the need for cultures, that had driven a lot of the recent advances in gut microbe research. This was a very important article in that regard.