Mounting evidence indicates that the gut microbiome responds to diet, antibiotics, and other external stimuli with speed and high precision and in ways that impact a variety of metabolic conditions including obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Despite a decade of research establishing a strong association between the gut microbiota and obesity in humans, a causal relationship and the underlying mechanism remain outstanding. Several technological and methodological limitations in obesity and microbiome research have made it difficult to establish causality in this complex relationship. Additionally, limited collaborative interaction between microbiome and obesity researchers has delayed progress. Here, we discuss the current status of microbiome research as it relates to understanding obesity from the perspective of both communities, outline the underlying research challenges, and suggest directions to advance the obesity-microbiome field as a whole, with particular emphasis on the development of microbiome-targeted therapies for obesity prevention and treatment.

越来越多的证据表明，肠道微生物组对饮食、抗生素和其他外部刺激的反应速度快、精度高，并且影响多种代谢状况，包括肥胖和非酒精性脂肪肝。尽管十年的研究表明肠道微生物群与人类肥胖之间存在密切关联，但因果关系和潜在机制仍然悬而未决。肥胖和微生物组研究中的一些技术和方法局限性使得很难在这种复杂的关系中建立因果关系。此外，微生物组和肥胖研究人员之间有限的合作互动也延缓了进展。在这里，我们讨论了微生物组研究的现状，因为它与从两个社区的角度理解肥胖有关，