Gut Pathogens is delighted to introduce two new thematic series, highlighting articles published in the journal on the topics of Probiotics and Metagenomic analysis of gut pathogens.

Probiotics is a term used to describe any micro-organism which has a beneficial impact on another organism. There has been extensive research into probiotics and their health implications, and Gut Pathogens is excited to introduce a new article collection highlighting the latest research in this area. The series brings together a variety of original research and review articles discussing the topics of new trends and future prospects for probiotics, health implications, probiotic use for treating disease, and their effect on mental health.

The series includes a timely review of the approaches currently being used and developed to identify probiotic species of the genus Lactobacillus. Herbel et al., compare multiple tools and techniques, including Whole Genome Sequencing and real time PCR, used for identifying probiotic bacterial strains and give an informed prediction of future in this area. A recent piece of original research published in this series investigates the use of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) in the treatment of Human rotavirus (HRV), the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and young children. The authors discovered that LGG treatment induced cell death and partially prevented virus-induced tissue damage, providing a promising outlook for the probiotic treatment of HRV.

Genomic analysis of gastrointestinal tract pathogens is key to understanding them and could potentially lead to the development of therapeutics, including probiotics, against them. To showcase the latest research in all aspects of metagenomics of gut pathogens and microbiota, a special series has been introduced.

A fascinating piece of original research by Monira et al., published in this series investigates the metagenomic profile of gut microbiota in children during cholera and recovery. This article gives an important insight into the possibility of post-cholera intervention to promote the restoration of the gut environment. Another interesting research article in this series explores the differences in gut microbiota composition between obese and lean children. This may lead to the development of new approaches to managing childhood obesity and associated disorders.

These new article collections currently welcome submissions on all aspects of probiotic research and metagenomic analysis of gut microbes. For more information on these article series, please visit the journal website or contact editorial@gutpathogens.com.