Diet-host-microbial interactions have many levels of complexity. These include the great diversity of microbes that inhabit the different regions of the gut, each with unique and overlapping metabolic potentials, plus the range of interactions that occur among them, the host, and the diet. Over the last decade several systems genetics studies have shown that host genetics influences intestinal microbiome composition, and loci modulating abundance of bacterial taxa and facets of metabolism have been discovered. A central premise of these approaches is that genetic variation drives phenotypic variation. This powerful premise produces an anchor for creating robust causal network models that can connect microbes, metabolites, and host genes to complex phenotypes. Thus, when traits without known relation (e.g. abundance of a microbe and a particular metabolite) are highly correlated at a specific host locus, novel hypotheses emerge connecting these traits. During my talk I will provide specific examples that illustrate the power of systems genetics to identify and deconvolute novel multi-component interactions. In the second part of my talk I will discuss our work aimed at understanding how variations in gut microbiome composition and microbial metabolism modulate the effects of diet on metabolic and cardiovascular health. Friday, September 4th, 2020 Seminar: Noon-1:00 PM Zoom: https://unl.zoom.us/j/310580348 Meeting ID: 310 580 348 Password: NFHC
More details at: http://microbiology@unl.edu