Human microbiota refers to the trillions of tiny living organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that naturally live in and on our body. These microorganisms play an important role in maintaining our overall health by helping with digestion, protecting against harmful germs, and supporting our immune system.
Full definition
This lack of consistency in approaches means that effective comparisons and interpretations
of human microbiota studies are often not possible.
For example, many studies
on human microbiota identify species (or operational taxonomic units) and map evolutionary relationships using the 16S ribosomal RNA gene.
Commensal Koch's postulates: establishing causation
in human microbiota research — Anne Neville — Current Opinion in Microbiology
The study (which also involved a colleague) may sound simple, if a little gross, but variation in intestinal microbes, known
as human microbiota, is highly complex.
Kristen Earle, Gabriel Billings, KC Huang and Justin Sonnenburg, of Stanford University's School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, took second place with this photo of a mouse colon colonized
with human microbiota, seen at 63x.
They also looked at the microbial metagenomes of Africans from Malawi, and saw distinct differences between the African and the
U.S. human microbiota, with some lineages seeminly lost by Americans.
The work «represents a significant step in
understanding human microbiota coevolutionary history,» says Justin Sonnenburg of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who was not involved with the research.
The study Dr. Alm discusses (daily stool sequencing for one year for several participants) can be read at Host lifestyle
affects human microbiota on daily timescales.
Plentiful opportunities for researchers to learn about and discuss important developments in the field
of human microbiota, the collection of microbes living in and on our body that have a significant impact on human health and well - being.
Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 20, no. 5 (2014): 640 - 645; De Lastours, V., et al. «Impact of fluoroquinolones
on human microbiota.
The age - related successional mechanisms involved in the differentiation of
the human microbiota across body habitats are only beginning to be understood (6), and defining the pioneer colonizers is a first step toward elucidating the initial stages of microbiota development.
«Artificial intelligence algorithms have the potential to change the everyday medical practices and offer the prospect of identifying new associations not yet detected by humans, which will be very useful for better understanding the complexity of
the human microbiota,» said author Dr. J. Luis Espinoza, of the Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, in Japan.
New deep sequencing methods provide a convenient platform for characterizing the composition of
the human microbiota [4, 7, 8, 13, 15 — 19].
Associate Professor D'Amato said: «Primarily a proof - of - concept investigation, our pilot study reinforces the idea that large - scale analyses should be undertaken to unravel how variation in the entire human genome relates to variation in
the human microbiota.»
Review: Synthetic Biology Approaches to Engineer Probiotics and Members of
the Human Microbiota for Biomedical Applications — Josef R. Bober — Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering
Add to this the unprecedented alteration of
the human microbiota and you have a perfect storm of criteria that have contributed to striking increases in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.
The NIH Common Fund Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was established with the mission of generating research resources enabling comprehensive characterization of
the human microbiota and analysis of their role in human health and disease.
Rodent studies have provided compelling insights; however, they have countless shortcomings as a reflection of
human microbiota, human dietary patterns, and the ultimate intertwining of these variables with complex mental health disorders.
Conclusions: We demonstrated that rifaximin, neither disrupts the overall biostructure of
the human microbiota nor exerts any cytotoxic or genotoxic activities, but it does provoke changes in bacterial metabolism and bifidobacterial numbers that support a functional advantage to the host.
The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging 18, no. 9 (2014): 773 - 786; Keeney, K.M., et al. «Effects of antibiotics on
human microbiota and subsequent disease.»
In recent years there has been a surge in the study of probiotics,
the human microbiota, and other related applications.
It is estimated that
the human microbiota contains as many as 1014 bacterial cells, a number that is 10 times greater than the number of human cells present in our bodies.
Dr. Mark Davis, naturopathic doctor, joins Dr Lo to discuss
the human microbiota and how you can optimize it using natural therapies.