Human gut is colonized by millions of bacteria, most of which are symbiotic ones positively contributing to human health. In case of dysbiosis, opportunistic bacteria colonize human gut inducing inflammatory responses and the onset of human pathologies. During recent years, gut microbiome manipulation using nutritional supplements as pre-, pro- or post-biotics has gained much interest. To achieve this, phylogenetical identification of gut microbiota using next generation sequencing techniques has replaced classical microbiology and revealed huge amount of metagenomic data of biological specimens. Microbial composition of healthy and ailing people has related the abundance of microbial populations and specific microbial taxa acquisition to the onset of pathologies and disease severity.

Maria Daskalaki, Christos Tsatsanis (University of Crete)