Big research effort blueprints bacteria in the gut

More than 100 researchers teamed up over two years pieced together a genetic blueprint of the bacteria that's found in the human digestive tract. Their work cataloguing the sequencing data on 124 adults should help shape a new generation of drugs for ulcers and inflammatory diseases, while illuminating how the same kind of basic sequencing programs can help influence development work in other disease areas.

The researchers gathered data on the bacteria found in both healthy and sick people to better understand how to diagnose and treat ulcers, IBD, Crohn's and other inflammatory ailments. Trillions of bacteria populate the human body, particularly the gut.

"The study is a blueprint," co-author Jeroen Raes tells AFP. "The vast majority of bacteria found were not known before. But now we can start sorting out what they do in terms of function, and how they might relate to disease."

The researchers were able to deploy new sequencing technology--primarily at the Beijing Genome Institute--to gather the data on the equivalent of 200 full genomes. And with a slate of new companies driving down the cost of sequencing, more such programs can be mounted to do the same kind of basic genetic cataloguing in other diseases.

- here's the feature from the AFP