The Future of Human Microbiome In Next-Generation Sequencing For Disease Diagnosis And Treatment

 

Human Microbiome

The Human Microbiome (HMP) is the microbial communities living in human bodies. While there are no universal bacterial taxa, the relative distribution of metabolic modules across body habitats, racial groups, and ethnicities was highly similar. The biggest variation was observed when comparing individuals with similar body niches across diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The next level of variation was noted when comparing individuals of the same race and health state. Despite these large differences, the HMP's results still point to a wide range of microbiome composition. Using for 440, 000 publicly available microbial DNA sequences, the HMP has reached a major milestone.

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) consists of three longitudinal studies and contains multi-omic data on human health and chronic disease. The projects also develop computational tools and protocols for identifying the functions of microbiome.

There is no single definitive answer as to the causes of the variation in microbiome composition. Some hypotheses suggest that certain environmental factors, early life exposures, and genetics may contribute to varying microbiomes. However, no single study has proved that these factors are causal.

While the Human Microbiome is highly variable, some of its components are conserved across species and a variety of human populations. These differences are not a result of a single genetic trait, but of postnatal factors, diet, and host genetics. In general, individuals have unique microbiotas. In a healthy individual, the lung is nearly sterile, and sample collection requires considerable technical expertise. Other areas of the human body that have changed over the course of the study include the placenta, breast milk, and tissue.

Early studies that used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine the composition of the normal gut microbiome were limited by culture and physiologic properties. These early studies highlighted organisms that grew well in a lab environment, such as Escherichia coli, leading to the perception that these organisms are representative of the microbiome. However, in studies that used strictly anaerobic methods, hundreds of bacterial species were recovered. Furthermore, these studies showed that the diversity of bacterial species differed from person to person.

The microbiome is constantly in flux and a healthy vagina may change between two community state types. Different taxa have different levels of stability, and some remain in the gut for many years. In the long run, however, the microbiome's resilience will determine the health of a patient. In a healthy vagina, the diversity of microbes can play a vital role in the body's function and health. Researchers are also working to define the concept of distance among communities and to associate these distances with host biology and various metadata. UniFrac11 has addressed this problem for metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene data, but other phylogenetic techniques may prove equally helpful.

Researchers have now begun to look at the Human Microbiome. Although the study only covers the microbiome, the research has wide-ranging implications. For example, the microorganisms present in our bodies are shaped by our lifestyle, diet, and genetic makeup. It could be an important insight into our evolution as a contemporary species. Moreover, rapid advances in technology are transforming our biosphere and lifestyle, which could affect our health and predisposition to various diseases.