Dysbiosis of gut microbiota and human diseases

Abstract

Gut microbiota of humans harbour a complex and dynamic community of more than 100 trillion beneficial microbes. Recent advances in tools and techniques of microbial analysis have made it possible to understand better the important role played by gut microbiota in the human body. The composition of gut microbiota depends on many factors, such as the mode of delivery of the baby, environmental conditions, antibiotic usage, age, and diet. Homeostasis of gut microbiota is important for maintaining good health as it influences human nutrition, metabolism, and immune function, while dysbiosis of the gut microbiota is associated with various gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and dysregulation of the immune system. Clinical evidences have shown that diseases caused by imbalance gut microbiota can be treated by probiotics. However, more research work is required to get insightful knowledge of what kind of particular microbes and underlying molecular mechanisms are responsible for a particular disease.