Recent Nature article on gut brain axis12 Feb 2021 14:00
Couple of points in this article offer support for 4D's single strain approach.And given that 4D have processes to genetically alter and optimise single strains from their library it shows they are streets ahead of others in the field.
"But along with that explosion of interest has come hype. Some gut–brain researchers claim or imply causal relationships when many studies show only correlations, and shaky ones at that, says Maureen O’Malley, a philosopher at the University of Sydney in Australia who studies the field of microbiome research. “Have you found an actual cause, or have you found just another effect?”
In recent years, however, the field has made significant strides, O’Malley says. Rather than talking about the microbiome as a whole, some research teams have begun drilling down to identify specific microbes, mapping out the complex and sometimes surprising pathways that connect them to the brain. “That is what allows causal attributions to be made,” she says. Studies in mice — and preliminary work in humans — suggest that microbes can trigger or alter the course of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, autism spectrum disorder and more (see ‘Possible pathways to the brain’). Therapies aimed at tweaking the microbiome could help to prevent or treat these diseases, an idea that some researchers and companies are already testing in human clinical trials".
"Costa-Mattioli and his colleagues worked out that the affected mice were missing a particular species of bacterium: Lactobacillus reuteri.
They tested L. reuteri in several other mouse models, and the bacterium was able to reverse some of the ASD-like behaviours in every one. And, just as with the Parkinson’s work, the researchers could block the effect in mice if they severed the vagus nerve13."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00260-3
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