ReviewCurrent opinion in biotechnology2018
To engraft or not to engraft: an ecological framework for gut microbiome modulation with live microbes.
Review in Current opinion in biotechnology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
111 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impact of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome-A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2019Pooled it
- Modulating effects of microbiota on synbiotic intervention outcomes for microbiota-derived trimethylamine, trimethylamine N-oxide and indoxyl sulfate in healthy young medical students: insights from a 12-week randomized clinical trial.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Trial
- Higher alpha diversity and Lactobacillus blooms are associated with better engraftment after fecal microbiota transplant in inflammatory bowel disease.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Fecal microbial transplantation and fiber supplementation in patients with severe obesity and metabolic syndrome: a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial.Nature medicine · 2021Trial
- A Phase 1b Safety Study of SER-287, a Spore-Based Microbiome Therapeutic, for Active Mild to Moderate Ulcerative Colitis.Gastroenterology · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Why probiotics fail: gut niche tension as the missing variable?Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Early-life microbial contact with adult hens modulates cecal microbiota and mitigates host responses to lipopolysaccharide-induced stress in broilers.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Next-generation probiotics: an outlook into current applications and future developments.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Microbial engraftment and immune regulation during fecal microbiota transplantation and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Mechanism-First Psychobiotics: Fermented Vegetables, Dairy, and Soy for Depression and Anxiety.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Genome-scale metabolic modelling identifies vaginal microbiome members as potential probiotics.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Microfluidic encapsulation of the human gut microbiota-a tool for research and beyond.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Dairy Bioactive Compounds as Precision Modulators of Gut Microbiota: From Molecular Mechanisms to Personalized Immunometabolic Health.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Development of a Metagenomics-Guided Personalized Synbiotic Protocol for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploratory Case Series.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Microbiome-Based Therapies in Ulcerative Colitis: Mechanisms, Clinical Evidence, and a Precision-Medicine Framework.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential of tryptophan metabolism in gut-brain signaling transduction: a narrative review.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- Developing Effective Bioinoculant and Engineering Plant Microbiome for Climate Resilient Agriculture: Lessons Learned and Future Roadmap.Current microbiology · 2026Review
- Predicting probiotic success: lessons from Oxalobacter and oxalate metabolism.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Genome characterization and comparative genomics ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Strategies aimed at modulating the gut microbiota by using live microbes range from single strains (probiotics or live biotherapeutics) to whole non-defined fecal transplants. Although often clinically efficacious, our understanding on how microbial-based strategies modulate gut microbiome composition and function is vastly incomplete. In this review, we present a framework based on ecological theory that provides mechanistic explanations for the findings obtained in studies that attempted to modulate the gut microbiota of humans and animals using live microbes. We argue that an ecological perspective grounded in theory is necessary to interpret and predict the impact of microbiome-modulating strategies and thus advance our ability to develop improved and targeted approaches with enhanced therapeutic efficiency.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.