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Review
. 2020 Sep 17;3(3):229-236.
doi: 10.1002/ame2.12134. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Impact of host genetics on gut microbiome: Take-home lessons from human and mouse studies

Inbal Cahana  1 , Fuad A Iraqi  1
Affiliations
Review

Impact of host genetics on gut microbiome: Take-home lessons from human and mouse studies

Inbal Cahana et al. Animal Model Exp Med. .

Abstract

The intestinal microbiome has emerged as an important component involved in various diseases. Therefore, the interest in understanding the factors shaping its composition is growing. The gut microbiome, often defined as a complex trait, contains diverse components and its properties are determined by a combination of external and internal effects. Although much effort has been invested so far, it is still difficult to evaluate the extent to which human genetics shape the composition of the gut microbiota. However, in mouse studies, where the environmental factors are better controlled, the effect of the genetic background was significant. The purpose of this paper is to provide a current assessment of the role of human host genetics in shaping the gut microbiome composition. Despite the inconsistency of the reported results, it can be estimated that the genetic factor affects a portion of the microbiome. However, this effect is currently lower than the initial estimates, and it is difficult to separate the genetic influence from the environmental effect. Additionally, despite the differences between the microbial composition of humans and mice, results from mouse models can strengthen our knowledge of host genetics underlying the human gut microbial variation.

Keywords: host genetic background; intestinal microbiome in human and mouse; microbial variations and profiles; take‐home lessons.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Shotgun and high‐throughput metagenomics, and 16S‐based sequence approaches for assessing microbial populations in a given biological sample
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Microbial similarity in monozygotic twins, while genetic diversity is observed in dizygotic twins
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Percentage profiles of the top bacteria families that found in the normal flora in susceptible (3A) and resistant mouse populations (3B) to a specific environmental challenge. While 43% of the Pasteurellaceae taxa was found in the susceptible mouse population (3A), only 21% of this taxa was found in resistant mouse samples (3B) to the same environmental challenge. Streptococcaeae taxa was found 27% and 51% in susceptible (3A) and resistant (3B) mouse populations, respectively, to the same environmental challenge (Unpublished data)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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