David, P., Sá-Pinto, X. & Nogueira, T. (2019) Microbiomes are Important Key Players in Human Health-Mutualistic Interactions with and between our Microbes. JOJ Internal Medicine, 1(2): 555556.
We are surrounded and colonized, from the inside out, by microbes since birth. Most of the bacterial cells that inhabit our body share a commensal and non-pathogenic behaviour. Collectively they are referred to as the human microbiome, a whole bacterial community relying on us as their natural biome. Likewise, we rely on them and on their genomes in order to adapt to the environment. The human gut is an important reservoir of bacteria playing a crucial role in human health. The average microbial diversity of the human gut microbiome has been gradually reducing over time due to the alteration of some cultural practices, together with antibiotics misuse. In order to overcome this problem, medicine has been involved in the development of innovative medical procedures like, for example, stool transplant from a healthy patient to those affected with chronically diarrhoea and bowel disease, to restore microbial diversity. In this article we explore the composition of the human gut microbiome, some of the interactions it has with the human body and its importance to the overall human health.
Teresa Nogueira Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics
