The NIH Human Microbiome Project (original) (raw)
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The Human Microbiome: at the interface of health and disease
Interest in the role of the microbiome in human health has burgeoned over the past decade with the advent of new technologies for interrogating complex microbial communities. The large-scale dynamics of the microbiome can be described by many of the tools and observations used in the study of population ecology. Deciphering the metagenome and its aggregate genetic information also can be used to understand the functional properties of the microbial community. Both the microbiome and metagenome probably have important functions in health and disease; their exploration is a frontier in human genetics.
The Human Microbiome and Its Impacts on Health
International Journal of Microbiology, 2020
The human microbiome comprises bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryotes which reside within and outside our bodies. These organisms impact human physiology, both in health and in disease, contributing to the enhancement or impairment of metabolic and immune functions. Micro-organisms colonise various sites on and in the human body, where they adapt to specific features of each niche. Facultative anaerobes are more dominant in the gastrointestinal tract, whereas strict aerobes inhabit the respiratory tract, nasal cavity, and skin surface. The indigenous organisms in the human body are well adapted to the immune system, due to the biological interaction of the organisms with the immune system over time. An alteration in the intestinal microbial community plays a major role in human health and disease pathogenesis. These alterations result from lifestyle and the presence of an underlying disease. Dysbiosis increases host susceptibility to infection, and the nature of which depends on...
Indian Journal of Microbiology, 2010
The sequencing of the human genome has driven the study of human biology in a signifi cant way and enabled the genome-wide study to elucidate the molecular basis of complex human diseases. Recently, the role of microbiota on human physiology and health has received much attention. The infl uence of gut microbiome (the collective genomes of the gut microbiota) in obesity has been demonstrated, which may pave the way for new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies such as bacteriotherapy. The signifi cance and recent understandings in the area of "human microbiomics" are discussed here.
Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome
Nature, 2012
Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome The Human Microbiome Project Consortium* Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat's signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81-99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.