Gut Microbiota and Host Diet Research

The human gastrointestinal tract is colonized by a dense population of microbes that outnumber host cells 10-fold, which form communities of bacteria, viruses and microbial eukaryotes that are specific to people of different ages, diet habits, and health conditions.

Diet is a major factor shaping the composition and metabolism of the colonic microbiota. The amount, type and balance of the main dietary nutrients that we consume also feed off the microbes living in our digestive system. The food we eat plays an instrumental role in maintaining the diversity and proper functioning of our gut microbiota. While on the other hand, these microbes possess a vast array of enzymes that can degrade complex dietary substrates the hosts can’t digest or to provide the host with essential nutrient elements the hosts can’t synthesize themselves; some metabolism reactions might result in additional fermentation products and are potentially harmful to host health. Thus, in another sense, the microbes colonized in the gut also have significant influence on human health by producing certain fermentation products, modulating host nutrient intake, adjusting colonic pH values, and mechanisms as such, and that is exactly why 'we are what we eat', owing a great deal to the gut microbiota.

Figure 1. An example of how gut microbiota involves digesting food and influencing the host. (Scott 2003)

The current multi-omics era promises rapid progress at the global level towards understanding how diet can be used to modulate the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiota over the recent decades, allowing researchers to provide informed advice, that should improve long-term health status.

CD Genomics is a preeminent corporation that specializes in multi-omics. Equipped with state-of-the-art techniques and served by well-experienced scientists, we have extensive experience dealing with all kinds of difficulties you may have encountered in your research, and we will provide the most valid solutions to meet your needs. We provide powerful tools to support your gut microbiota and host diet research from the following multiple views:

Gut Microbiota Composition:

The genes of microbes that make up the microbiota outnumber human genes by more than 100-fold, with over 3 million bacterial genes in the gut alone, which provides researchers with abundant resources. Dietary consume can adjust the structure of intestinal microbial flora and the corresponding metabolism. Fats, fibers, prebiotics (such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides, stachyose, and raffinose), and all the ingredients we take will facilitate in shaping the composition of the microbiota.

CD Genomics provides a wide range of technologies for gut microbiota composition profiling, our specialty lies in multi-omics analysis mainly by state-of-the-art detecting methods coupled with bioinformatics analysis platforms. We provide all kinds of sequencing and gene array technologies to profile target sequences, (meta)genome, and (meta)transcriptome of all types of microbes, in order to offer the most comprehensive information on how diet influences the microbiota, and how it connects with human health.

• Amplicon sequencing
• Whole-genome sequencing
• Metagenomic sequencing
• Virome sequencing
• DNA microarray
• Metatranscriptomics solutions

Gut Microbiota Metabolism:

The changes in the composition and metabolism of intestinal microbiota caused by dietary intervention play an important role in regulation of human health – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the diet can be decomposed and utilized by intestinal microorganisms to varying degrees: metabolites of carbohydrates include SCFAs, H₂, CO₂, etc.; metabolites of food proteins and endogenous proteins include ammonia, phenols, indoles, amines, H₂S and other substances; fat can promote the secretion of bile and produce free bile acid under the action of bile acid hydrolase to reduce cholesterol level.

CD Genomics provides functional analysis of proteins, peptides, and all kinds of intestinal metabolites by cutting-edge technologies including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC),  nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (MS) and many other efficient equipment, in order to investigate the physiological status of both the microbiota and the hosts, identify various potential biomarkers, map unique metabolome fingerprints of specific cellular processes, determine specific pathways, and unveil fundamental mechanisms of certain diseases.

• Metaproteomics solutions
• Metabolomics solutions

CD Genomics dedicates to providing the highest level of service in gut microbiota research. We will offer the most suitable strategies according to your sample and research purpose. To find out more about the services we offer for gut microbiota and host diet research, please feel free to contact us.

*For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.