Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome
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Alm_Structure function.pdf
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2.83 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4e18ac4a38305c7055571380331da17b
Author(s)
Alm, Eric J.
Friedman, Jonathan
Smillie, Christopher S.
Date Issued
June 2012
Journal
Nature
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Huttenhower, Curtis et al. “Structure, Function and Diversity of the Healthy Human Microbiome.” Nature 486.7402 (2012): 207–214.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81–99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.
Description
Author Manuscript date: 2013 February 05.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computational and Systems Biology Program
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11234
