Cited by 2,058Gut microbiota and healthMicrobial Community Ecology and PhysiologyOral microbiology and periodontitis research

The Long-Term Stability of the Human Gut Microbiota

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Faith, Jeremiah J., Guruge, Janaki L., Charbonneau, Mark, Subramanian, Sathish, Seedorf, Henning, Goodman, Andrew L., Clemente, Jose C., Knight, Rob +4 more·2013·Science

Abstract

Inheritance Guts: We know little about the stability of the constituent microbiota in the human gut or the extent to which the gut microbiota are a potential target for long-term health interventions. Faith et al. (p. 10.1126/science.1237439 ) analyzed the fecal microbiota of 37 individuals and found that, on average, 60% of bacterial strains remained stable for up to 5 years and many were estimated to remain stable for decades.

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Crossref · 10.1126/science.1237439

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  • Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes are the major bacterial phyla in gut microbiota, and their proportions appear stable over time within individuals and family members.

    “The major taxa present in gut microbiota consist primarily of 2 major bacterial phyla, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, whose proportions appear to remain remarkably stable over time within individuals and their family members (9, 10).”
  • An individual's microbiota could be remarkably stable, with 60% of strains remaining over the course of five years.

    “A study demonstrated that an individual’s microbiota could be remarkably stable, with 60% of strains remaining over the course of five years”
  • The microbiota is generally highly stable over an extended period of time in the absence of significant perturbations.

    “Although the microbiota is generally highly stable over an extended period of time in the absence of significant perturbations [45]”
  • The composition of the gut microbiota appears sensitive to caloric balance, as noted in subjects studied before, during, and after weight loss.

    “the composition of the gut microbiota does appear to be sensitive to caloric balance as noted in subjects studied before, during, and after weight loss [38].”

    From The athletic gut microbiota (2020) · cites this paper as [38]

  • Mock-community data supported diversity and precision-sensitivity analyses.

    “Data from the mock communities were used for diversity and precisionsensitivity analyses employing methods described previously15,23.”

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Authors
Faith, J. J., Guruge, J. L., Charbonneau, M., Subramanian, S., Seedorf, H., Goodman, A. L., Clemente, J. C., Knight, R., Heath, A. C., Leibel, R. L., Rosenbaum, M., & Gordon, J. I.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Gordon, Jeffrey I.
Venue
Science
Published
2013-07-05
Volume
341
Issue
6141
Pages
1237439-1237439
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2137195441
Cited by
2,058
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 98 · 2025: 117 · 2024: 134 · 2023: 178 · 2022: 197 · 2021: 222 · 2020: 197 · 2019: 191 · 2018: 154 · 2017: 157 · 2016: 138 · 2015: 147 · 2014: 102 · 2013: 25
FWCI
61.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000040)
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K05AA017688)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R37DK030292, DK-30292, DK078669, P01DK078669, R01DK064773, DK 70977, DK64774, R01DK070977, P30DK026687, R01DK030292)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
  • Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Oral microbiology and periodontitis research
Keywords
gut microbiota, microbiome stability, power-law distribution, fecal microbiota, liquid diet, body weight, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing
MeSH terms
Adult, Bacteria, Body Composition, Family, Feces, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Biological, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Time Factors, Weight Loss, Genome, Bacterial, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Caloric Restriction, Gastrointestinal Tract, Genomic Instability, Metagenome, Young Adult

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