Connecting microbiome dots

Although bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, new work from the Human Microbiology Institute suggests bacteriophages may also underly a variety of human diseases by infecting the gut microbiome.

At this month’s American Society for Microbiology Microbe (ASM Microbe) conference, George Tetz, a founder of the institute, presented data showing that exposure of rats to bacteriophages altered the composition of the gut microbiome and increased gut permeability, leading to weight loss, lower animal activity levels and an increase in circulating immune complexes...