IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v535y2016i7610d10.1038_nature18845.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A microbial perspective of human developmental biology

Author

Listed:
  • Mark R. Charbonneau

    (Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine
    Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine)

  • Laura V. Blanton

    (Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine
    Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine)

  • Daniel B. DiGiulio

    (Stanford University
    VA Palo Alto Health Care System)

  • David A. Relman

    (Stanford University
    Stanford University)

  • Carlito B. Lebrilla

    (University of California, Davis
    Foods for Health Institute, University of California, Davis)

  • David A. Mills

    (Foods for Health Institute, University of California, Davis
    University of California at Davis
    University of California, Davis)

  • Jeffrey I. Gordon

    (Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine
    Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine)

Abstract

When most people think of human development, they tend to consider only human cells and organs. Yet there is another facet that involves human-associated microbial communities. A microbial perspective of human development provides opportunities to refine our definitions of healthy prenatal and postnatal growth and to develop innovative strategies for disease prevention and treatment. Given the dramatic changes in lifestyles and disease patterns that are occurring with globalization, we issue a call for the establishment of 'human microbial observatories' designed to examine microbial community development in birth cohorts representing populations with diverse anthropological characteristics, including those undergoing rapid change.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark R. Charbonneau & Laura V. Blanton & Daniel B. DiGiulio & David A. Relman & Carlito B. Lebrilla & David A. Mills & Jeffrey I. Gordon, 2016. "A microbial perspective of human developmental biology," Nature, Nature, vol. 535(7610), pages 48-55, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:535:y:2016:i:7610:d:10.1038_nature18845
    DOI: 10.1038/nature18845
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18845
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature18845?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:535:y:2016:i:7610:d:10.1038_nature18845. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.