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A true understanding of human physiology requires knowledge of the spectrum of microbes present on our skin and mucosal surfaces. Toward this end, a multinational research team used high-throughput genomic sequencing to analyze all DNA, regardless of source, in fecal samples from 124 European adults.
The researchers generated 576.7 gigabases of sequence data, which included approximately 3.3 million nonredundant microbial gene sequences. Each individual carried a gut metagenome of about 536,000 unique microbial genes, of which >99% were bacterial in origin. Among the genes that could be matched to existing published microbial genomes, some served functions necessary in all bacteria (i.e., housekeeping), whereas others served potentially gut-…