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Ethics of exploring the microbiome of native peoples

Nature Microbiology volume 1, Article number: 16097 (2016) Cite this article

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Microbiomes of native peoples could provide constituents to improve our health. Research must be conducted ethically and native peoples appropriately rewarded. However, sharing our medical practice risks spoiling these microbial oases and could lead to the same disease risks that we are trying to prevent.

The field of microbiome research is providing important insights into the roles of our microbial genomes, contained in human-evolved microorganisms — our ‘microbiome’. We have learned that our microbiome affects immune and hormonal modulation, resistance to infections, and metabolism1. As we mine the human microbiome for knowledge, issues related to therapeutic or preventive use of microorganisms (as probiotics) will be increasingly relevant to science and society.

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Figure 1: Gut microbiomes from native versus Western lifestyles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York University School of Medicine, New York, 10016, New York, USA

    Maria G. Dominguez-Bello

  2. Dorobo Safaris Tanzanian ecotourism, Lake Eyasi, Tanzania

    Daudi Peterson

  3. Instituto de Medicina Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, 1051, Venezuela

    Oscar Noya-Alarcon

  4. Amazonic Center for Research and Control of Tropical Diseases (CAICET), Puerto Ayacucho, 7101, Venezuela

    Oscar Noya-Alarcon

  5. ACOANA Conservation Association, Caracas, 1050, Venezuela

    Mariapia Bevilacqua

  6. Leader members from the Yekwana village of Kanadakuni, Upper Caura, Bolivar State, Venezuela

    Nelson Rojas, Rómulo Rodríguez & Saul Alango Pinto

  7. Hadza villager from Lake Eyasi, central Rift Valley, Tanzania

    Richard Baallow

  8. Department of Anthropology, Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC), Caracas, 1020A, Venezuela

    Hortensia Caballero-Arias

Authors
  1. Maria G. Dominguez-Bello
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  2. Daudi Peterson
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  3. Oscar Noya-Alarcon
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  4. Mariapia Bevilacqua
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  5. Nelson Rojas
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  6. Rómulo Rodríguez
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  7. Saul Alango Pinto
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  8. Richard Baallow
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  9. Hortensia Caballero-Arias
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Correspondence to Maria G. Dominguez-Bello.

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Dominguez-Bello, M., Peterson, D., Noya-Alarcon, O. et al. Ethics of exploring the microbiome of native peoples. Nat Microbiol 1, 16097 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.97

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