The bacteria in the gut – known as the microbiome – have in recent years emerged as a focal point of scientific exploration, with their intricate roles in our metabolism, nutrition, and overall health coming into sharp focus. Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have now made a discovery that could lead to a better understanding of and treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Over millions of years of co-evolution with humans, gut bacteria have become indispensable for the proper functioning of our immune system. The gut is a constantly changing organ, undergoing structural, chemical, and mechanical changes and having to adapt to this dynamic environment.
A major mechanism that makes such a dynamic adaptation possible is their ability to undergo rapid genomic changes due to a trait known as plasticity. Professor Naama Geva-Zatorsky and her team at Technion’s Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and their collaborators have been investigating this for years.
It has just been published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe under the title “Inflammation and bacteriophages affect DNA inversion states and functionality of the gut microbiota.”
The study focused on species of the Bacteroidales order, some of the most abundant species in the human gut microbiome. While analyzing more than 2,000 healthy and sick people and conducting preclinical research in mice models, the Technion scientists identified distinct patterns of DNA inversions in health and disease.
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