BY THE SCIENTIST STAFF
Scientists have for decades recognized that the human body is more microbe than human. Large and diverse communities of bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic life inhabit not just our intestines, but our mouths, our skin, and our genitals. Even places once thought to be sterile, such as the eyes and lungs, are now known to host microbial life.
Using metagenomic sequencing approaches, researchers have thoroughly documented microbial ecosystems throughout the body, and have begun to link variation in them with various aspects of human health. Most recently, work in this area has started to fill in the story of how certain microbes interact with the molecular processes of their hosts to bring about the physiological changes scientists have observed.