Gut check: testing a role for the intestinal microbiome in human obesity.

By using germ-free mice transplanted with human fecal microbiota, scientists show that a high-fat, high-sugar diet durably changes the transplanted microbiome and that this diet-altered microbiome promotes obesity. This model should encourage investigation of the gut microbiome as a contributor to human metabolic disease and permit discovery of targets for the prevention and treatment of these disorders.