Gut feeling - it's bacteria
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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THE human digestive tract is a virtual zoo, full of a wide variety of bacteria, a new study has found. And scientists say that is a good thing.
The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract.
The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut.
The findings were published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature.
More than 99 percent of the different types of genes in our bodies are not in fact human, but come from microbes.
Thus, cataloging the genetics of bacteria inside of us would improve vastly on the mapping of the human genome, said study co-author Wang Jun, a Chinese genomics researcher.
Bacteria "rule this planet, including our body," said study co-author Jeroen Raes, a researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany.
"I think it's important that people realize that we are not really human - we are a walking colony of bacteria and they are crucial for our well-being and health."
Looking at 124 adults, researchers found that most people's digestive systems had a lot in common. At least 57 species of bacteria were present in just about everybody.
Overall, the researchers have cataloged about 1,000 different bacteria species and there are another 150 or so yet to be found.
Raes said medical studies usually ignored gut bacteria, but "this blueprint will allow us to study the role of the fauna in many human diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and so on."
The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract.
The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut.
The findings were published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature.
More than 99 percent of the different types of genes in our bodies are not in fact human, but come from microbes.
Thus, cataloging the genetics of bacteria inside of us would improve vastly on the mapping of the human genome, said study co-author Wang Jun, a Chinese genomics researcher.
Bacteria "rule this planet, including our body," said study co-author Jeroen Raes, a researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany.
"I think it's important that people realize that we are not really human - we are a walking colony of bacteria and they are crucial for our well-being and health."
Looking at 124 adults, researchers found that most people's digestive systems had a lot in common. At least 57 species of bacteria were present in just about everybody.
Overall, the researchers have cataloged about 1,000 different bacteria species and there are another 150 or so yet to be found.
Raes said medical studies usually ignored gut bacteria, but "this blueprint will allow us to study the role of the fauna in many human diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and so on."
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