> Traditionally, antibiotics have been considered the most common treatment against infectious disease, microbial disorders and inflammation. However, growing evidence for microbial contribution to health and advanced understanding of complex microbial diseases have resulted in a re-evaluation of some antibiotic and immunosuppressant treatments. 

> Antibiotics have been considered as a poor choice for GIT microbiota modification because of tolerance issues associated with long- term dosing and the lack of bacterial species specificity. However, antibiotics can positively modulate chronic disease conditions, such as diabetes and obesity, at least in rodent models 

> Recent studies suggest the potential involvement of human host and gut microbiota interactions in many chronic diseases including diabetes, obesity, irritable bowel diseases, behavioural disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

> The gut microbial community is estimated to be composed of more than 5000 different bacterial species and trillions of cells. The gut microbiota is, in effect, a super organ (the super organism being the combination of the human host and its microbiota) with a collective genome, the microbiome, exceeding by at least 100-fold the number of genes in the human genome.

> Our understanding of the host–microbiome super-organism may develop to the point where microbial- targeted therapies are a major consideration in pharmaceuticals and personalized medicine. The computational infrastructure required to support this growing field will involve solutions based on a combination of massively parallel data handling, refined data-mining strategies and customized platforms for data integration.

Data mining the human gut microbiota for therapeutic targets
Briefings in Bioinformatics Advance Access published March 24, 2012

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