Escherichia coliROCKY MOUNTAIN LABORATORIES, NIAID, NIH
The human body is largely not human. It contains trillions of microbes that outnumber out own cells 10 to 1, affecting our health and behavior. Now, an international consortium of around 200 scientists has mapped this diverse microbial community at an unprecedented level of detail, and shown just how much it varies from person to person.
“This represents a yet another milestone that will help to expand our knowledge about the invisible world of human-associated microbes,” said Peer Bork from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, who was not involved in the study.
The team, working together as part of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), studied the microbes of 242 healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 40. They collected samples from 18 body parts for women and ...
