Alongside trillions of bacteria, our microbiome is home to many fungal species and researchers are only just starting to investigate how they influence human health and metabolism animaxx3d/Depositphotos

While most microbiome scientists focus on gut bacteria, a new school of research is starting to look at how the communities of fungus in our bodies, called the mycobiome, can influence our metabolic health. A newly published animal study suggests fungal diversity may play a role in weight gain.

Trillions of micro-organisms live inside each of us. This is our microbiome. The vast majority of these microbes are bacteria. Arguably one of the most significant areas of medical research over the past couple of decades has been the growing understanding of a symbiotic relationship between our general health and the bacteria we house.

Most microbiome research has focused on gut bacteria, however, there are other microbes that call our digestive system home including parasites and viruses. Less than 10 years ago, a landmark study was the first to definitively show a rich community of fungi also live in our microbiome.

Looking forward, the next steps for the researchers behind this new study will be to further investigate the links between metabolism and the fungal mycobiome. Willis and Stewart hypothesize the intimate functional relationship between fungal communities and bacteria may fundamentally influence how our microbiome affects our metabolism.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/fungal-mycobiome-gut-bacteria-microbiome-health-metabolism/

> Less than 10 years ago, a landmark study was the first to definitively show a rich community of fungi also live in our microbiome.

Fungi tend to live at much lower water content than bacteria.

The human gut has a high water content, which is why bacteria thrive there.
The human skin has a much lower water content, which is why fungi thrive there.

So whereas I would expect to find lots of fungi living in the human gut, I would only expect to see fungi as spores, not actively dividing.

But I’m definitely no expert on this.

reading that, cheers, permeate

mollwollfumble said:

> Less than 10 years ago, a landmark study was the first to definitively show a rich community of fungi also live in our microbiome.

Fungi tend to live at much lower water content than bacteria.

The human gut has a high water content, which is why bacteria thrive there.
The human skin has a much lower water content, which is why fungi thrive there.

So whereas I would expect to find lots of fungi living in the human gut, I would only expect to see fungi as spores, not actively dividing.

But I’m definitely no expert on this.

Different species commonly live in different environments.

https://newatlas.com/microbiome-gene-study-harvard/61085/

transition said:

https://newatlas.com/microbiome-gene-study-harvard/61085/

Wonder if the microbes are trying to understand the extent of their environment. Our bodies must seem like the universe to them.

PermeateFree said:

transition said:

https://newatlas.com/microbiome-gene-study-harvard/61085/

Wonder if the microbes are trying to understand the extent of their environment. Our bodies must seem like the universe to them.

it’s an interesting proposition, what adaptations of structure/s might qualify as understanding

imagine if LIFE included a variety of lifeforms

SCIENCE said:

imagine if LIFE included a variety of lifeforms

I think it does

dv said:

SCIENCE said:

imagine if LIFE included a variety of lifeforms

I think it does

like mycobacteria, and cryptoccoci, and other exciting organisms that would imply that claiming that bacteria and bacteria alone affect health is just ridiculous

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

SCIENCE said:

imagine if LIFE included a variety of lifeforms

I think it does

like mycobacteria, and cryptoccoci, and other exciting organisms that would imply that claiming that bacteria and bacteria alone affect health is just ridiculous

I mean canids and such can also affect health

transition said:

https://newatlas.com/microbiome-gene-study-harvard/61085/

Doesn’t say “fungi”.

> The new study analyzed 3,500 human microbiome samples, primarily from the gut and mouth. The researchers described the genetic heterogeneity of the results as “staggering,” discovering nearly 46 million “non-redundant genes.” Even more striking was the finding that around 50 percent of all the genes identified were unique to a single sample.

50% unique is huge. I hope that deon’t imply “contamination”.
What does that say about the total number of bacterial species?

The saying “You are what you eat” is never more apt.

Looking up https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(19)30352-X

Only 2% overlap between oral and gut genes. Nearly the same number of oral and gut singletons, more gut singletons.

About 50% of the non-singleton genes are identifiable by function or species.

“Singletons Arise from Rare, Sub-population Specific Bacterial Strains”

“28 singleton and 42 non-singleton contigs map to Eubacterium rectale; however the singleton contigs come from 1 individual, whereas the non-singleton contigs are from 39 different individuals”

>Doesn’t say “fungi”.

>50% unique is huge

I know, it was a link in the text in the original article

I was also impressed, similarly, why I posted the link