Friendly viruses in the intestine are unique – even among identical twins

Many people associate viruses with disease. But a largely unexplored world of viruses make their home in the lower intestine, and new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that each of us harbors a unique collection of these “friendly” viruses.
In a study of healthy identical twins – all females – and their mothers, the researchers found that even identical twins carry distinctive collections of viruses deep in their intestines. The research is published July 15 in the journal Nature.
Unlike viruses that make us sick, these viruses are not predators. Indeed, most of them are novel and live a cozy existence inside bacteria that naturally reside in the gut. Here, the viruses are thought to influence the activities of gut microbes, which among their other benefits allow us to digest certain components of our diets, such as plant-based carbohydrates, that we can’t on our own. Further, the viruses may act as a barometer to gauge the overall health of the gut microbial community as it responds to challenges or recovers after an illness or therapeutic intervention.

“Viruses are the major predators on planet Earth,” says senior author Jeffrey Gordon, MD, director of Washington University’s Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, whose pioneering research has provided an understanding of the nature of the microbes that live in our intestines: how they are acquired and how they benefit us, including their influence on nutrition.

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