Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026
08:05
Guided Protocol for Fecal Microbial Characterization by 16S rRNA-Amplicon Sequencing
Published on: March 19, 2018
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Strain Diversity in the Human Microbiome: Personal Variation, Pathobionts, Therapeutics, and Methodological
Hyunjoon Park1, Jung Soo Kim1, Dong Joon Kim1,2
1Institute for Liver and Digestive Diseases, Hallym University, Chuncheon 24252, Republic of Korea.
Microorganisms
|March 28, 2026
Summary
Human microbiome research is moving beyond species to focus on strains, which are key to health and disease. Understanding strain-level differences is crucial for personalized medicine and developing new microbiome therapeutics.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Immunology
Background:
- Human microbiome research has advanced significantly with new sequencing technologies.
- Current analyses often rely on species-level profiles, overlooking critical strain-level variations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize recent studies providing strain-resolved evidence in human microbiome research.
- To focus on personalized strain repertoires, pathobiont traits, and implications for therapeutics.
Main Methods:
- High-resolution amplicon profiling
- Advanced metagenomic and single-cell genomics
- Culture-based functional approaches
Main Results:
- Individual microbial strains exhibit substantial variation in gene content and functional properties.
- Strain-specific differences impact host immunity, barrier integrity, and disease susceptibility.
- Personalized strain repertoires emerge and persist long-term.
Conclusions:
- Strain-level analysis is essential for understanding microbiome function and host interactions.
- Strain-level insights are critical for developing next-generation microbiome therapeutics.
- Methodological innovations are enabling robust strain-level resolution in microbiome research.
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