Dear Colleagues,

Gut microbiota diversity has potential as a diagnostic tool for unraveling intestinal disorders, and may contribute to the maintenance of digestive health and overall wellbeing.

At present, a great deal of microbiome data have been reported concerning the development of several diseases (e.g., obesity, type 1 diseases, cancer, cirrhosis, and Alzheimer’s, among others).

Recently, prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics have been utilized as therapeutics to alleviate diverse body disorders. In particular, metabolites produced by postbiotics play significant roles in the human gut, directly or indirectly. They have pleiotropic efficacy against diverse diseases, including anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, anti-tumor, and even anti-psychiatry. The therapeutic benefits of the cross-communication between organs and the gut microbiota can not only be identified in local areas, but also distant organs, because the metabolites exert bidirectional communication from the gut. This is defined as the gut–organ axis, which can be differentiated into the gut–brain, gut–liver, gut–lung, and gut–skin axes, and so on.

However, the detailed roles of metabolites from the gut microbiota are not well documented; therefore, researchers have had difficulty in proving their in vitro or in vivo effects. In particular, an in silico strategy for identifying the mechanism of metabolite(s) from the gut microbiota may be an essential tool in investigating their health benefits.

This Special Issue will concentrate on current issues in molecular biology based on computational methods, merged networks (microbiota–mechanisms–targets–metabolites) and new insights regarding metabolites from the gut microbiota.

The submission of original articles, reviews, and hypotheses is welcome. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• The gut–organ axis from metabolites in human (e.g., gut–liver, gut–brain, gut–skin axis, and so on);
• Networks of microbiota–mechanisms–targets–metabolites to alleviate human diseases;
• Systemic insights to identify potential therapeutic metabolites or gut microbiota;
• Microbiome-based analysis for human therapeutics, by either dry-based or wet-based experiments.

Dr. Ki Kwang Oh
Prof. Dr. Ki Tae Suk
Guest Editors

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• gut microbiota
• in silico strategy
• metabolites
• gut–organ axis
• human therapeutics
• prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics
• computational methods