Matters Microbial #91: You Are What Your Genes Feed Your Microbiome May 16, 2025

Today, Dr. Emily Davenport, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the research her team does, studying how our own genes impact our microbiomes.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Emily Davenport

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Links for this episode

• A description of GWAS ("Genome Wide Association Study"). Here is an introductory video about the concept.
• An explainer on organoids.
• An essay about the diversity of the host microbiome (i.e. is there a "healthy" microbiome?).
• An article of the work of Dr. Sarkis Mazamian on how individual host genes and bacterial genes can impact the microbiome.
• A nice write up for Dr. Mazamian's work showing how host genes and bacterial genes can work together…or not.
• An oldish video of how the infant microbiome develops over time by Dr. Rob Knight's research group.
• An article on the same topic from Dr. Ruth Ley.
• An essay on the mucosal microbiota, rather than the fecal microbiome.
• An interesting member of the human microbiome, Akkermansia that might be related to obesity.
• Another interesting member of the human microbiome, Bifidobacterium, which appears to be associated with host lactose metabolism. Yes, there is a Giant Microbes plush toy.
• An overview of the impact of host genetics on the microbiome by Dr. Davenport.
• A definition of heritability.
• An overview of the Hutterites and how their study has advanced genetics.
• An explainer of the power of twin studies in genetics.
• A fascinating article about ancient dental plaque microbiome by Dr. Davenport and others.
• Dr. Davenport's faculty website.
• Dr. Davenport's research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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