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Interesting bits on microbiome

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
Jan 29, 2016
Why are obesity, juvenile diabetes and asthma increasing? Is it something in the environment or in our modern lifestyle? Dr. Martin Blaser thinks that it may be due to changes in our microbiome – the ecosystem of tiny microscopic creatures that live in and on us. Learn about his hypothesis that some of the greatest medical advances in the 20th century – antibiotics, C-sections and antiseptics- may be having unintended consequences.

Dr. Martin Blaser has studied the role of bacteria in human disease for over 30 years. He is the director of the Human Microbiome Program at NYU. He founded the Bellevue Literary Review and has been written about in newspapers including The New Yorker, Nature, Science, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. His more than 100 media appearances include The Today Show, The Daily Show, Fresh Air (NPR) GMA, the BBC, The O'Reilly Factor, and CNN. He lives in New York City.

The Gut Microbiota Modulates Energy Metabolism in the Hibernating Brown Bear Ursus arctos
Felix Sommer, Marcus Ståhlman, Olga Ilkayeva, Jon M. Arnemo, Jonas Kindberg, Johan Josefsson, Christopher B. Newgard, Ole Fröbert, Fredrik Bäckhed

Highlights

•Bear microbiota composition differs seasonally between hibernation and active phase

•Blood metabolites differ seasonally in the brown bear

•The bear gut microbiota promote energy storage during summer

Summary

Hibernation is an adaptation that helps many animals to conserve energy during food shortage in winter. Brown bears double their fat depots during summer and use these stored lipids during hibernation. Although bears seasonally become obese, they remain metabolically healthy. We analyzed the microbiota of free-ranging brown bears during their active phase and hibernation. Compared to the active phase, hibernation microbiota had reduced diversity, reduced levels of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, and increased levels of Bacteroidetes. Several metabolites involved in lipid metabolism, including triglycerides, cholesterol, and bile acids, were also affected by hibernation. Transplantation of the bear microbiota from summer and winter to germ-free mice transferred some of the seasonal metabolic features and demonstrated that the summer microbiota promoted adiposity without impairing glucose tolerance, suggesting that seasonal variation in the microbiota may contribute to host energy metabolism in the hibernating brown bear.
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Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
Thanks for posting @Gondwanaland. It looks like a very interesting video. The study about the bears is from my country so we heard a lot about it on the news last week. The researchers said that they will try to syntesize the good bacterias as nobody would eat poo from a bear. They don´t know what PWME would be able to do ;).