A Review of the Oesophageal Microbiome in Health and Disease

Dervla Kelly, Liying Yang, Zhiheng Pei

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Microbial members of the gastrointestinal tract, known as the GTI microbiome, are beneficial for host metabolism and digestion, thereby creating a symbiotic relationship with their host (Petersen & Round, 2014). The microbiome has recently emerged as contributing to many intestinal disease states such as gastrointestinal reflux disease, Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal cancers. Given that the local bacterial population influences individuals’ disease susceptibility, the microbiome of the gastrointestinal tract has been studied intensively over the last decade. Gastrointestinal microbiology has traditionally focused on culturing colonies for the detection of pathogens and diagnosis of gastroenteritis and colitis. Over the past decade, the bacterial population of the oesophagus has been successfully characterized using culture-independent techniques. The primary focus of researchers is now to investigate the functions of the microbiome and how it influences the host. In this review, we discuss the major findings in relation to the oesophageal microbiome, which include: (1) the composition of oesophageal microbiome; (2) the function of the oesophageal microbiome; and (3) the association between the oesophageal microbiome and disease. The review also presents the opportunities for investigators to apply emerging technologies to the oesophageal microbiome.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMethods in Microbiology
PublisherAcademic Press Inc.
Pages19-35
Number of pages17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameMethods in Microbiology
Volume44
ISSN (Print)0580-9517

Keywords

  • Dysbiosis
  • High-throughput sequencing
  • Microbiome
  • Oesophagus

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