This comprehensive set of studies, by researchers in Israel, showed that intestinal microbiota in mice and humans show diurnal changes in composition and function. The changes happen on the scale of hours, and are influenced by the host’s feeding rhythms.
![By Douglas P. Perkins (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1024px-Seats_on_an_airplane-1-300x225.jpg)
By Douglas P. Perkins (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The studies provide evidence of daily rhythms of microbiota change that coordinate across the metaorganism. The finding that host microbiota fluctuate over a matter of hours has implications for future microbiota studies; it suggests that samples should be taken from subjects at a consistent time of day to control for these changes.
See science writer Ed Yong’s blog post on the research here.
Thaiss et al., Transkingdom Control of Microbiota Diurnal Oscillations Promotes Metabolic Homeostasis, Cell (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.09.048