Pathogenic gut microbiota (None established)

Pathogenic gut microbiota refers to the subset or community of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract whose alterations or expansion contribute to disease. Unlike a single molecular target, this designation covers diverse microbial taxa (bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea) whose function, composition, and activity disrupt host health through inflammatory, metabolic, and immune-mediated mechanisms. Therapeutic strategies increasingly aim to manipulate these communities—using antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, phage therapy, and fecal microbiota transplantation—to prevent or treat diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, infections, and metabolic disorders[2][4][6]. The complexity and plasticity of the gut microbiome mean that therapeutic targeting is challenging, often requiring personalized approaches guided by microbial biomarkers and risk assessment[4][6]. The entry "Pathogenic gut microbiota" therefore should not be treated as a specific molecular entity, but as a *community-level therapeutic target* relevant for microbiome modulation. When attempting to structure therapeutic target databases, this term would best be classified under "Other", with clear annotation that it refers to a disease-associated microbial community—not a molecule, gene, or receptor.

Other names

Pathogenic intestinal microbiotaPathogenic gut floraDisease-associated gut microbesDysbiotic microbiota

Antibiotics kill or suppress pathogenic bacteria, but may also disrupt beneficial communities. Probiotics compete with pathogens, restore microbial balance, and modulate immune response. Fecal transplantation replaces dysbiotic microbiota with healthy donor communities. Phage therapy involves targeted lysis of pathogenic bacterial strains. Prebiotics promote the growth of beneficial bacteria that suppress pathogens.