MetaHIT: The European Union Project on Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract

Abstract

MetaHIT (http://www.metahit.eu) has as a first objective the creation of a catalog of the microbial genes from our intestinal tract, thus laying foundations for characterization of the gut microbial communities. Next, it aims to explore associations between microbial genes and human phenotypes. For that, it develops, on the one hand, molecular tools for profiling of the intestinal microbial genes that are harbored by any individual, and on the other, a bio-informatics resource to organize and interpret heterogeneous information, including sequencing data and clinical metadata. Moreover, MetaHIT develops approaches to detect and analyze functional interactions of microbes and the human host, focusing on the role of target genes in the microbial cell and the effect of gene products on the human host. MetaHIT targets two pathologies, obesity and inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis). The studies involve (i) cross-sectional comparisons of healthy and sick individuals; (ii) longitudinal follow-up of patients in clinical remission; (iii) nutritional intervention related to the stability of gut microbial community; and (iv) comparison of patients responding or not to a drug treatment.

The list of Consortium members is appended to the Chapter.

The MetaHIT Consortium Members

Maria Antolin (Hospital Universitari Val d'Hebron, Ciberehd, Barcelona, Spain), François Artiguenave (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Genoscope, Evry, France), Manimozhiyan Arumugam (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany), Jean-Michel Batto (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), Marcelo Bertalan (Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark), Hervé Blottiere (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy en Josas, France), Peer Bork (EMBL), Natalia Borruel (HUVH), Christian Brechot (Mérieux Alliance, Lyon, France), Søren Brunak (DTU), Thomas Bruls (CEA Genoscope), Kristoffer Solvsten Burgdorf (Novo Nordisk Hagedorn Research Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark), Jianjun Cao (Beijing Genomics Institute Shenzhen), Francesc Casellas (HUVH), Christian Chervaux (Danone Research, Palaiseau, France), Jean-Frederic Colombel (Mériex Alliance), Antonella Cultrone (INRA), Joel Doré (INRA), Christine Delorme (INRA), Gérard Denariaz (Danone Research), Rozenn Dervyn (INRA), Miguel Forte (UCB Pharma SA, Madrid, Spain), Carsten Friss (DTU), Francisco Guarner (HUVH), Maarten van de Guchte (INRA), Eric Guedon (INRA), Florence Haimet (INRA), Torben Hansen (NN HRI), Alexandre Jamet (INRA), Min Jian (BGI Shenzhen), Catherine Juste (INRA), Ghalia Kaci (INRA), Michiel Kleerebezem (Wageningen Unviersiteit, the Netherlands), Jan Knol (Danone Research), Karsten Kristiansen (Kopenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark), Severine Layec (INRA), Karine Le Roux (INRA), Marion Leclerc (INRA), Denis Le Paslier (CEA Genoscope), Florence Levenez (INRA), Dongfang Li (BGI Shenzhen), Junhua Li (BGI Shenzhen), Shaochuan Li (BGI Shenzhen), Shengting Li (BGI Shenzhen), Songgang Li (BGI Shenzhen), Yingrui Li (BGI Shenzhen), Huiqing Liang (BGI Shenzhen), Daniel Mende (EMBL), Emmanuelle Maguin (INRA), Chaysavanh Manichanh (HUVH), Raquel Melo Minardi (CEA Genoscope), Christine Mrini (Mériex Alliance), H. Bjørn Nielsen (DTU), Trine Nielsen (NN HRI), Raish Oozeer (Danone Research), Julian Parkhill (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK), Nicolas Pons (INRA), Oluf Pedersen (NN HRI), Eric Pelletier (CEA Genoscope), Junjie Qin (BGI Shenzhen), Jeroen Raes (EMBL, presently at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium), Pierre Renault (INRA), Maria Rescigno (Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Italy), Ruiqiang Li (BGI), Nicolas Sanchez (INRA), Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten (DTU), Sebastian Tims (WU), Toni Torrejon (HUVH), Keith Turner (WTSI), Encarna Varela (HUVH), Willem de Vos (WU), Bo Wang (BGI Shenzhen), Jian Wang (BGI Shenzhen), Jun Wang (BGI Shenzhen & KU), Jean Weissenbach (CEA Genoscope), Yohanan Winogradsky (INRA), Yinlong Xie (BGI Shenzhen), Junming Xu (BGI Shenzhen), Takuji Yamada (EMBL), Huanming Yang (BGI Shenzhen), Chang Yu (BGI Shenzhen), Xiuqing Zhang (BGI Shenzhen), Huisong Zheng (BGI Shenzhen), Hongmei Zhu (BGI Shenzhen), Yan Zhou (BGI Shenzhen), Erwin Zoetendal (WU).