Metatranscriptomics of the human gut microbiome

How these organisms contribute to and affect human health is poorly understood, but the emerging field of metagenomics promises a more comprehensive and complete understanding of the human microbiome. In the European-funded Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract (MetaHIT) project [1], we combined next-generation sequencing with high-density microarrays, generating metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data for more than 400 individuals.The combined data reveal clusters of coexisting species with differences in pathway and gene function activity, suggesting that there is a division of labor between the bacterial species in the human gut microbiome.