Abstract

In this Analysis we use published 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences to compare the bacterial assemblages that are associated with humans and other mammals, metazoa and free-living microbial communities that span a range of environments. The composition of the vertebrate gut microbiota is influenced by diet, host morphology and phylogeny, and in this respect the human gut bacterial community is typical of an omnivorous primate. However, the vertebrate gut microbiota is different from free-living communities that are not associated with animal body habitats. We propose that the recently initiated international Human Microbiome Project should strive to include a broad representation of humans, as well as other mammalian and environmental samples, as comparative analyses of microbiotas and their microbiomes are a powerful way to explore the evolutionary history of the biosphere.

Author affiliations

1. Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA.
2. Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA.
3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
4. Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
5. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Jeffrey I. Gordon¹ Email: jgordon@wustl.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.