Paradigm Shifting Without A Clutch

by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD

This is the first in a series of articles about the human microbiome, how it affects our overall health, how it can become imbalanced, and what we can do about it. For a geek like me, this is incredibly interesting. Check it out:

Our Microbiome:

We humans like to think of ourselves as a distinct species, and a relatively clean one at that.

We wash our hands. We use disinfectants and sanitizers. We brush our teeth. We bathe and shower.

We also think of ourselves as a distinct species. Separate from other species.

We think of ourselves as strictly human, to the exclusion of other species.  We like to think of ourselves as made up of only human cells and tissues, and that we wash off or kill everything else, like so many microscopic pests.

In general, the notion that there might be other species in us gives us a shudder, and brings up images of Alien (starring Sigourney Weaver, 1979).

Can You Handle The Truth?

(I can almost hear Jack Nicholson, in the movie, A Few Good Men, 1992, “You can’t handle the truth!”).

The truth is that we are a compilation of human AND microorganism.

We are Human-Bacteria Hybrids:

(http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/10/65252)

We are an amalgam.  A mixture.

Paradigm Shift

In fact, the microorganisms on us and in us outnumber our own cells.

There are a few Trillion human cells in each of us.  Sounds like a lot, and it is, but not compared to the number of bacteria in each of us:  There are more than 100 Trillion bacterial cells in each of our bodies.

They outnumber us by nearly a factor of 100!

You Are a Minority in Your Own Body!

Think about that for a bit:

The non-human cells of “us” outnumber the “us” cells of us.

That means: in our own bodies, we (human) are the minority cell type.

Woah.

Wrap your head around that for a bit. How’s that for a shock?

Here’s another shock. You may want to sit down for this one:

We don’t simply tolerate those microorganisms.  We rely on them.  We need them. (Again, I can hear Jack Nicholson).

Some of these bugs are essential for our very survival.  The good ones and the bad ones have evolved along with us. They affect us, affect our health. We affect them – by what we eat, by how we are born, by what we do for a living, by where we live and who we live with.

Teamwork

They have been with us for millennia.  Since before we even became the species, Homo sapiens – since we crawled out of the primordial ooze – we have co-evolved with these other species.  We are co-dependent:  they need us, and vice versa.

How’s that for a change in how we view our universe? That’s what is called a paradigm shift. That popping sound you just heard was your paradigm shifting without a clutch.

Good Aliens

Fortunately for us, the majority of those 100 Trillion bacteria in us are what is called “commensal” – that is, they hang out with us, they share our food, but – mostly – they do no harm.

Even better, the fact that they are there, crowding-out potentially harmful bacteria, is very beneficial for us.  They prevent potentially dangerous infections by making it difficult for the bad bugs to find a place to call home. In general, the good bugs hold most of the buggy real estate, making it difficult for the bad bugs to move into your neighborhood.

Some of those 100 Trillion bacteria even alter how our bodies interact with our environment.  They affect our immune systems.  They affect how we interact with our food.  They are not merely passive passengers.  They live together with us in a balance, and (usually) provide a positive effect – a Symbiosis.

There’s a name for this collection of non-human aliens that make up a human: it is called the microbiome. Your complete microbiome includes all of the species that comprise your non-human self, but make no mistake about it: your “self” is a mix of human and “other” species.

One can refer to specific sub-populations that inhabit different “environments” of our anatomy, for example, the GI tract, or the upper respiratory tract, or the skin. These can be referred to as your skin microbiome, etc. The lab that I collaborate with at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry is one of those that is doing cutting edge research on the oral cavity microbiome:

http://www.dent.ohio-state.edu/oralbiology/LabLeysPeople.php.

Why Does it Matter?

It is not just bacteria in our microbiomes. There are other life-forms as well: the archaea, the eukaryotes and the viruses are also important in your microbiome. Just how important, and just what each of them contributes to the microbiome, we don’t yet know.

We have only begun to unravel this mystery: what  role our microbiome plays in our health.

However, early studies suggest that our general well-being is a reflection of our microbiome.

Our good health is dependent on a particular balance of bugs in our microbiome.

I will review some of these studies in a future article. Fascinating stuff!

We in the field of science that studies the microbiome are asking these and other questions:

• What is considered a normal microbiome?
• How do the different species interact?
• What do each of the species contribute to each other?
• What do they contribute to us?
• Which are beneficial?
• Which are detrimental, pathological?

Based on our early understanding of the role of our microbiome(s) in our overall health, the National Institutes of Health has begun an enormous project to answer some of these questions. They call it the Human Microbiome Project (HMP).

See their site at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/hmp/

For those who are super-curious, read some things that Drs. Peter Turnbaugh and Jeffrey Gordon has authored on microbiomes. Here is the URL for his laboratory at Washington University: http://gordonlab.wustl.edu/

More to Come …

Return here for further musings on:

• the role of our microbiome in our optimal health
• the role of our microbiome in the health of our immune system
• how antibiotics affect our microbiome
• how we can restore an unbalanced microbiome

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Image Credit: dbkfrog’s photos on flickr.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59765593@N00/2298773943/

For Creative Commons image use guidelines: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

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Tags: evolution, health, human, metabolism, microbiome, microbiota, paradigm shift, species, symbiosis, well-being