Our genes decide influences the way we look, fat or thin, tall or short by shaping which types of microbes thrive in our body. Researchers at King's College London and Cornell University have identified a specific, little known bacterial family that is highly heritable and more common in individuals with low bodyweight.

Our research and findings show that microbes present in your gut can prove to be protective against obesity and this usually occurs due to the influence of genes.
"Our findings show that specific groups of microbes living in our gut could be protective against obesity – and that their abundance is influenced by our genes," said Tim Spector, professor at King's College London.

The results may help for personalised probiotic therapies to reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases based on an individual's genetic make-up, showed the study.For the study, researchers sequenced the genes of microbes found in over 1,000 fecal samples from 416 pairs of twins.

The type of bacteria whose abundance was most heavily influenced by host genetics was a recently identified family called 'Christensenellaceae'.Members of this health-promoting bacterial family were more abundant in individuals with a low body weight than in obese individuals, said the study. This microbe also protected against weight gain when transplanted into mice.

The study was conducted and treated with microbes that had less weight than that of the untreated mice, as per the studies.