Figure 1.
The human gut microbiota – three main enterotypes. Network analysis of genus abundance across different individuals suggests that the human gut microbiota conforms to well balanced host–microbial symbiotic states driven by groups of co-occurring genera. Multidimensional cluster analysis and principal component analysis of metagenomic sequences from American, European and Japanese individuals, reveal that all individual samples formed three robust clusters, which were designated as ‘enterotypes’. Each of the three enterotypes is identifiable by the variation in the levels of one of three genera: Bacteroides (enterotype 1), Prevotella (enterotype 2) and Ruminococcus (enterotype 3). Networks of genera in the three enterotypes are identified by positive and negative correlations among the dominant genera.
Source: Figure reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Arumugam M, Raes J, Pelletier E, et al. Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome.3 Nature 2011; 473: 174–180, copyright 2011.