Gut bacteria gene complement dwarfs human genome

Nature News ^ | 3 March 2010 | Andrew Bennett Hellman

[neverdem]

Sequencing project finds that Europeans share a surprising number of bacteria.

Researchers have unveiled a catalogue of genes from microbes found in the human gut. The information could reveal how 'friendly' gut bacteria interact with the body to influence nutrition and disease.

"This is the most powerful microscope that's been used so far to describe microbial communities," says George Weinstock, a geneticist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the study.

The human body contains about ten times as many microbes as human cells, and most of them live in the gut. The new study, published today in Nature1, shows that, between them, those microbes contain 3.3 million genes, dwarfing the human genome's 23,000. The authors also find that the bacterial species in one person's gut are not as different from those of others as had been expected.

Scientists hope to use this genetic information much as they hope to use the human genome: to predict and treat disease. The goal has led to efforts around the world to sequence and characterize all the microbes in the human gut, dubbed the 'microbiome'.

Now, a group of scientists associated with a European project called MetaHIT (Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract) has undertaken the biggest ever census of the bacterial genes that are present in the gut...

[neverdem]

A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing

[djf]

But it’s dwarfed by something else.

A couple grad students wanted to find out how many different bacteria were in one CC of sea water. They guesstimated maybe a thousand or so,

Last I read, they were up to 25,000 plus and still counting. Probably a good number never before even cataloged in bacteriology.

[SpaceBar]

Funny how one apostrophe can radically alter sentence meaning.

[James C. Bennett]

Where would that be?

[SpaceBar]

dwarf’s

[James C. Bennett]

LOL, now that I see it too!

[Right Wing Assault]

My mind saw it as if that apostrophe WAS there and I was wondering what dwarfs had to do with this.

[Quickgun]

Some Europeans also have bacteria on the outside of their bodies, I’m told....

[aruanan]

A couple grad students wanted to find out how many different bacteria were in one CC of sea water. They guesstimated maybe a thousand or so,

I think that was the number of viruses in sea water.

[aruanan]

Also, E. coli is not the predominant human gut bacteria. I've been doing genotyping on human and other organisms gut bacteria for a lab that is working on various types of inflammatory bowel disease.

[djf]

No.

In fact it was bacteria.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/ocean_microbe_aug_06.php

[neverdem]

micro ping

[aruanan]

Actually, it was both.

Recent studies have shown viruses to be abundant (10⁴ to 10⁴ ml^-1) in marine environments (e.g. Torrella & Morita 1979, Proctor et al. 1988, Bergh et al. 1989, Borsheim et al, 1990, Proctor & Furhman 1990, Wommack et al,. 1992, Cochlan et al. 1993, Paul et al. 1993). --Bacterial viruses in coastal seawater: lytic rather than lysogenic production RM WIlcox, JA Fuhrman. Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 114:35-45. 1994

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Here's a good start.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks neverdem. Scientists catalog zoo of bacteria inside our guts Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[muawiyah]

Determining the number of different viruses in seawater is a quite serious occupation these days.

There are MILLIONS.

It's like the ocean is just full of loose genes that may have purposes.

I've suggested many times that there are probably the instruction set for intergalactic space cruisers out there and all we have to do is figure out how to put them to work.

The fellow who was the first to get through the human genome project, John Craig Venter, has a foundation that's work finding the viruses and bacteria we need ~ another project is to create an artificial life-form into which we can stick the virus and bacteria genes to see what they are supposed to do.