Heritable microbiome? New findings with some hope for overcoming life style diseases

Can any one believe that microbes can be inherited by children from their parents and the vulnerability of the off springs to major diseases like CVD, Diabetes and obesity is determined by the bacterial species inherited? Such a hypothesis is being put forward by a group of scientists working together from the UK and the US. The study further claims that lean individuals with least susceptibility to put on weight have a family of bacteria that may hold key to solving the obesity epidemic confronting the world. They have been able to confirm their hypothesis through animal experiments using these specific bacterial cultures and would be looking for a pro-biotic therapy approach to treat obesity related diseases. Here is a take on this unbelievable claim which if proved correct may open up an entirely new therapy giving hope to millions of obesity affected people across the world.

A new study has determined that not only are bacteria naturally found in the gut involved in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, but they are genetically inherited. Researchers at King's College London and Cornell University identified a highly-heritable bacterial family that is more common in individuals with low body weight and that could pave the way for genetics-based personalized probiotic therapies for obesity-related diseases. The study examined 1,081 fecal samples taken from 977 people – 171 pairs of identical twins and 245 pairs of non-identical twins, plus 145 other, individual twins. Microbes from a bacterial family called Christensenellaceae, and to a lesser extent other specific microbe populations, were significantly more similar in the identical twins than non-identical twins, suggesting a strong genetic (and thus hereditary) influence in gut microbe composition. The study suggests that altering the Christensenellaceae population may have a direct impact on susceptibility to obesity, as mice treated with the microbe gained less weight than untreated mice. The researchers believe that similar personalized microbe treatments in humans could be a promising new aid in the fight against obesity – both in terms of prevention and reduction.

Whether the word "inherited" can be used here is some what questionable because bacterial cells are not considered transferable to the child while in the womb. Usually the new born child develops its microbiome during the early days of breast feeding by the mother and during suckling only surface bacteria can be transferred through the oral route. The gut bacteria which is a part of the gastrointestinal system of the mother may have no easy route to the GI of the child though many organisms in the gut are also present in other parts of mother's body. Whether such passage of microbiome from mother to the off spring is determined by the genes of the mother inherited by the baby is not clear. Another confusing picture is that the gut microbiome is influenced very much by the diet and its profile rapidly changes depending on the food consumed. Probably further research may bring out how mother's gut bacteria is transmitted to the baby to develop the "weight" control faculty of the mother in the child.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT PATHOGENS-A NEW APPROACH TO OVER COME THE PROBLEM

Antibiotic resistance is a subject of great concern because almost all antibiotics known to man are ineffective in killing a few highly dangerous pathogens because gross misuse of these drugs at every level of human activities. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics by medical industry, food industry and animal food industry in many case at sub-lethal doses give an opportunity to some microorganisms to develop adequate biological mechanism to make them ineffective or non-lethal. Added to this there is very little progress in discovering new and more powerful antibiotics during the last 3 decades as such endeavors are preposterously costly beyond the economic capacity of private industry. It is in this context that the reported development of a new tool to deal with antibiotic resistant pathogens by a group of scientists from MIT, Boston gives hope for counteracting future epidemics involving such dangerous pathogens.

"The unique approach could be used to genetically engineer bacteria in our bodies to become less dangerous.The technology might also lead to new treatments for metabolic diseases like obesity, the researchers claim. Scientists and politicians have warned that we face a return to the medical "dark ages" if action is not taken against antibiotic resistance.The human body houses ten times more bacterial cells than human ones. This community of bacteria is termed the microbiome and its importance in keeping us healthy is increasingly recognised. One of the problems with current antibiotics is "they hit not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria," explained Professor Timothy Lu of the Synthetic Biology Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the team carrying out the new research. "It allows the bad bacteria to flourish." In a series of laboratory experiments published in Nature Biotechnology, the researchers showed they could produce a molecular "conditional-lethality device" capable of highly targeted action against the "bad" bacteria in a consortium of different strains.The new antibiotic uses an RNA-guided nuclease called a "Crispr"to hunt down and chop up target genes inside bacterial cells."

How far this development will get transferred into commercial technology is an unknown factor and only time will unfold the potential of the findings. One of the advantages of this new technology is the antibiotic under the scanner is selective in attacking only the pathogenic bacteria while sparing harmless and beneficial ones that reside in human body. Considering that antibiotic resistant pathogens pose a universal threat to humanity, there is an urgent need for international agencies like WHO to support the MIT project to bring to fruition the scientific findings reported above.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com