Methods and groups

A group of no more than 9 bacterial isolates suitable for bacteriotherapy obtainable or identifiable by a method for the identification of bacterial species suitable for use in bacteriotherapy, the method comprising:

• (i) preparing a culture of material collected from a host harbouring microbiota;
• (ii) detecting at least one bacterial species or a group of individual bacterial species within the culture of step (i) by genomic DNA sequencing, and isolating the at least one or group of detected individual bacterial species from the culture;
• (iii) assessing combinations of the at least one or a group of isolated detected individual species from step (ii) to identify combinations of at least one or a group of no more than 9 of the detected individual bacterial species for use in, or suitable for use in, bacteriotherapy by:
• (a) administering the combinations of the at least one or a group of isolated detected individual bacterial species to a human or non-human animal recipient and measuring a shift in the recipient's microbiota to that of a healthy microbiota, wherein an increase in species diversity indicates a shift to healthy microbiota, and/or
• (b) assessing the combinations of the at least one or a group of isolated detected individual bacterial species in an animal model to identify combinations that are able to alter host biology such as to resolve a pathology in vivo by altering resident intestinal microbiota composition;
• and
• (iv) selecting a combination of no more than 9 of the isolated detected individual bacterial species assessed in step (iii) that shifts the recipient's microbiota to that of a healthy microbiota by increasing species diversity, and/or resolves a pathology in vivo, for use in bacteriotherapy.