BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Making connections between ALS and gut microbes

Evidence from Weizmann researchers links the gut microbiome to ALS and shows how different species can modulate disease course

August 1, 2019 10:20 PM UTC

Israeli researchers have linked gut microbiome species and metabolic pathways to ALS and shown that different species can ameliorate or exacerbate disease.

The microbiome and gut-brain axis have increasingly been implicated in neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease, autism and Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery adds amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to that list, and in particular suggests a commensal bacteria, Akkermansia muciniphila, could be harnessed to slow the disease...