Super-donors could be the key to fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) success. While FMT is an approved treatment for C. diff infection, it has shown very little promise in treating other dysbiosis (gut bacteria imbalance) –related chronic diseases. A recent review article looked at the evidence supporting the idea of FMT “super donors”; donors who possess specific microbial composition and diversity in their stool, “keystone” bacterial species by condition, and how the concept of super-donors could be the foundation of dysbiosis-matched FMT. Frontiers in Cellular and Infectious Microbiology

→Takeaway: While dysbiosis is an overall term to describe gut bacteria imbalance, each disease and condition has its own dysbiosis road map with large variations in bacteria species. This article hypothesizes that there is no “one stool fits all” approach. For FMT to be successful, stool composition and diversity, as well as the microbial footprint of the disease the stool is aiming to treat, must be taken into consideration. Honing in on the FMT super-donor concept and conducting studies that specifically address which bacterial species are critical for treating which conditions will hopefully bring us closer to more FMT remedies for chronic illness.