INRA researchers, as part of the MetaHIT
international consortium, put together a catalogue
of microbial genes that regroups pre-existing
catalogues (European, American and Chinese)
and enhanced it with new sequences. Apart from
being an unparalleled resource, the analyses done
for the catalogue showed that it contains the
broadest collection of microbial genes – and by
extension, their functions – present in the global
population. With ten million genes, this new
catalogue presents the most impressive array of
human intestinal bacteria in the world.