Quantitative image analysis reveals diet-driven changes in gut microbiota localization

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract
The community of commensal bacteria, viruses and eukaryotic microorganisms within our gastrointestinal tract, the gut microbiota, is a fundamental part of our biology. Foundational work has demonstrated that these organisms are required for proper development of the immune, circulatory and central nervous systems; and changes in the membership of this community are associated with pathologies such as obesity, colorectal cancer, type 2 diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases. Though much research has focused on community composition assessed by pyrosequencing, emerging evidence suggests that many of these disease states are also associated with changes in bacterial localization within the intestines. However, standardized imaging and quantitation methods have not been established yet in the field. The work in this dissertation develops and validates such methods, and applies them to determine the effects of a low fiber diet on spatial organization of the gut microbiota. Chapter 1 contains a literature review of existing tools to study the microbiota, with a focus on the advantages and limitations of different imaging strategies. Chapter 2 includes the histological, imaging, and computational methods developed to develop a high-resolution imaging and quantification pipeline, using gnotobiotic and humanized mice on a polysaccharide-deficient diet as a test case. Chapter 3 further develops the work from Chapter 2, with a focus on host response to a low fiber diet. Chapter 4 contains perspectives and future directions for the applications of imaging to the gut microbiota field.

Description

Type of resource text
Form electronic; electronic resource; remote
Extent 1 online resource.
Publication date 2015
Issuance monographic
Language English

Creators/Contributors

Associated with Earle, Kristen Anne
Associated with Stanford University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Primary advisor Sonnenburg, Justin, 1973-
Thesis advisor Sonnenburg, Justin, 1973-
Thesis advisor Amieva, Manuel
Thesis advisor Huang, Kerwyn Casey, 1979-
Thesis advisor Schneider, David (David Samuel)
Advisor Amieva, Manuel
Advisor Huang, Kerwyn Casey, 1979-
Advisor Schneider, David (David Samuel)

Subjects

Genre Theses

Bibliographic information

Statement of responsibility Kristen Anne Earle.
Note Submitted to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Thesis Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2015.
Location electronic resource

Access conditions

Copyright
© 2015 by Kristen Anne Earle
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

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