In the primary research article “Symbiotic gut microbes modulate human metabolic phenotypes” (2007), Min Li et al attempt to explain the link between populations of gut microbes in humans and the humans’ metabolic phenotype through a transgenomic approach. The researchers sampled fecal and urine samples from seven Chinese individuals, each sampled twice, and analyzed them through spectroscopic, microbiomic, and multivariate tools. The purpose of this research was to develop a method of determining metagenomics in the human gut microbe. This study has the potential to influence further research into the field of gut microbiology and the consequences of different phenotypic irregularities.
