Human Microbiome Project, Goals, Components, Working Groups

Introduction

Though other terms such as endogenous or commensal microbiota have been used to describe the microorganisms which are resident in the human body, these microbial communities are more than an assemblage of microbial cells. The human microbiome comprises the full complement of microbial genes, gene products, and genomes of the microbiota (which include bacteria, archaea, eukaryotic viruses, bacteriophage, and eukaryotic microbes) that reside in and on the human body and interact with each other and with the human host to digest food, produce beneficial products, support the immune system, and maintain host health. A revolution is occurring in our understanding of the basis of many common and complex diseases, infectious and otherwise, as the role of the human microbiome is incorporated into our thinking about health and disease. At 100 trillion cells, an estimated 10,000 species, and an estimated eight million unique microbial genes, the global microbiome contributes over...