The OMM 12 mice: a decade of dissecting host-microbiome interactions

Overview & Synopsis

Humans and their associated microbes form a multifaceted ecosystem. Gaining mechanistic insight into this system necessitates reductionist models integrating ecological and immunological dimensions. Over the past decade, the gnotobiotic Oligo-Mouse-Microbiota (OMM¹²) mouse line has exemplified this approach, pairing a standardized consortium of 12 bacterial strains representative of the five major phyla of the mouse microbiota, with the most widely used host background, C57bl/6 mice, in microbiome research. Across numerous studies, this reproducible and experimentally tractable model has enabled the identification of molecular mechanisms underlying colonization resistance, pathogen virulence, microbiotadependent metabolic and immune pathways, as well as bacterial and bacteriophage dynamics.The modular ability/nature of the OMM 12 model may now be further leveraged and refined in different host and microbial dimensions to address remaining gaps in translational microbiome research, positioning it as a reference framework for mechanistic investigations.