Compositions and methods for diagnosing colon disorders

A method for diagnosing, monitoring, or prognosing an intestinal tract disease in a patient, comprising:

• obtaining a digestive tract sample of the patient or nucleic acid isolated therefrom,
• determining from the sample a microbial profile comprising the relative abundance of Acinetobacter junii, Bacteroides distasonis, Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides vulgarus, Bergeyella zoohelcum, Chryseobacterium balustinum, Comomonas terrigena, Comamonas sp, Moraxella cuniculi, Moraxella lacunata, Moraxella osloensis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella bovis, Shigella boydii, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Fusoacterium alocts, Fusobaterium nucleatum, Fusobacterium varium, Propionibacterium acnes, Clostridium sp., Clostridium nexile, Eubacterium formicigenerans, Ruminococcus gnavus, Ruminococcus torques, Enterococcus cecorum, Enterococcus columbae, Enterococcus hirae, Tetragenococcus halophilus, Streptococcus bovis, Streptococcus infantarius, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus thermophilus, and Clostridium paraputrificum;
• and
• classifying the microbial profile for the presence, progression, or course of an intestinal tract disease by computer-implemented cluster analysis.

A method for diagnosing, monitoring, or prognosing an intestinal tract disease in a patient, comprising:

• obtaining a digestive tract sample of the patient or nucleic acid isolated therefrom,
• determining from the sample a microbial rRNA gene profile comprising the relative abundances of SEQ ID NOS:1-36 by nucleic acid sequencing;
• and
• classifying the microbial rRNA gene profile for the presence, progression, or course of an intestinal tract disease by computer-implemented cluster analysis.