Japan’s Noster Inc., a premier provider of gut microbiome analysis services, is proud to unveil groundbreaking updates in its research on cutting-edge gut bacteria-based metabolite and gut microbiota analysis services. These advancements have far-reaching implications for research on human health and diseases such as diabetes, dietary supplement development, and innovative functional foods.
Noster’s microbiome analysis approach simultaneously evaluates the composition of gut bacteria and its metabolite profile through a fusion of metagenomics and metabolomics.
Metagenomics involves analyzing the genetic information of gut microbiota, while metabolomics addresses the properties of metabolites produced by the gut microbiome. By integrating these methodologies, Noster can assess both the function of the gut microbiome and the health status of the host.
Noster’s metabolome analysis service focuses on the fatty acid metabolites generated by the gut microbiota during the breakdown of dietary fiber and fatty acids. This includes short-chain fatty acids and distinctive poly-unsaturated fatty acid-derived metabolites like HYA (10-hydroxy-cis-12-octadecenoic acid) and KetoA (10-oxo-cis-12-octadecenoic acid).
Fatty acid metabolites not only act as an energy source for the gut microbiota but also play pivotal roles in protecting the host’s intestinal mucosa, regulating the immune system, controlling lipid metabolism, and synthesizing neurotransmitters.
Leveraging targeted analysis technology, Noster’s metabolome analysis service quantitatively and comprehensively detects 45 types of poly-unsaturated fatty acid metabolites produced by gut bacteria in biological samples. This involves analyzing feces, blood, and saliva samples from healthy Japanese individuals, resulting in a proprietary database of metabolites produced by gut bacteria. This database is instrumental in identifying metabolites effective in treating human diseases by comparing patient samples.
In addition to metabolome analysis, Noster offers a gut microbiota analysis service, amplifying the 16S rRNA genes of bacteria by PCR and analyzing them using next-generation sequencing. This enables a comprehensive evaluation of the type and distribution of bacteria in a given sample.
Noster’s services find application in various fields, including elucidating metabolic mechanisms by the gut microbiome, discovering new biomarkers and therapeutic targets, understanding the role of the gut microbiome in disease development, and exploring new functions of foods and food supplements.
Driven by the vision of “connecting life and gut microbiome,” Noster aims to contribute to scientific breakthroughs in the microbiome to enhance human health worldwide.