What if metagenomics, the analysis of the sequences of microorganisms in the microbiota, was not the only clinical horizon? Hubert Vidal, research director at Inserm, recommends not losing sight of physiology and keeping an eye on metabolomics, the analysis of compounds produced by the microbiota.
Interview: Agnès Vernet, published on July 2, 2024
Hubert Vidal, research director at Inserm and the Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Diabetes and Nutrition (CarMeN) laboratory at the University of Lyon.
DR
Why should we be interested in microbiota metabolomics? Hubert Vidal: Today, research is still trying to understand how the microbiota impacts health and metabolism. The mass of genetic information is a challenge to integrate, while medicine knows how to exploit information linked to a single molecule. I think that tests on metabolites will develop much more quickly than those of metagenomics. For example, the pulmonary microbiota quickly showed its interest during the Covid pandemic. People infected with SARS-Cov2 present a dysbiosis with an enrichment in opportunistic pathogens such as Acinetobacter baumannii and Candida spp. However, this dysbiosis can be verified by mass spectrometry research of biomarkers, specific fatty acids, in exhaled air. These techniques…
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