New York Times: We Still Don’t Really Understand the Human Microbiome
In a nutshell
We have studied too little of the human population to understand how the microbiome works
The New York Times article makes this important point clearly
The Global Microbiome Conservancy is a welcome step towards scientific honesty
The New York Times magazine article “Our Bacteria Are Talking. We’ve Just Begun to Understand What They’re Saying” raises an important topic. Consider the blunt assessment underneath the title:
“The human microbiome is essential to our health, but scientists still know very little about it.”
The article highlights the importance of acknowledging important limitations in our knowledge:
“In recent years, scientists had linked the gut microbiome to a long list of conditions, including Crohn’s and irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson’s, dementia and autism, and they were hopeful that a better understanding of those links would lead to treatments, if not cures”
However, thousands of papers later, large gaps still remain. One major reason is the research starting material used.
“About 90 percent of all human diversity has been completely left out of the picture”
Because? Typically, research starting material comes from a very limited subset of our eight billion human population:
“…the same small sliver of humanity, namely populations that were wealthy, Western and white.”
Our scientific community has typically shrugged, referring to this large omission as “dark matter”. Thankfully, two scientists are attempting to close the gap through the Global Microbiome Conservancy.
The Global Microbiome Conservancy
The project collects and preserves gut bacteria from a broader collection of people, and its objectives include:
Preserving the bacterial populations from people living more traditional and less urbanized lifestyles
Building the most representative collection of human gut bacteria in the world
Creating a public resource to support more insightful gut microbiome research
Summary
The New York Times article adds to the public discussion of the human microbiome, and makes one point clear - we have studied too little of the human population to understand how the microbiome works.
The Global Microbiome Conservancy’s collection could become one of the most valuable research resources in the field, helping scientists grasp how little is still known about bacterial variation, structure, and function within the human population.
Unfortunately, the collection has its limitations. It contains only bacteria, omitting fungi and other members of the gut microbiota. It also relies on fecal samples with no attempt to differentiate from members along the length of the human intestine or between mucus and lumen.
Nevertheless, the collection is a welcome step in the direction of broader representation and scientific honesty.
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