During a recent study, scientists identified about 2,000 unknown human gut bacteria species that populate our intestines. The research was carried out by scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the European Bioinformatics Institute and made use of various computational methods to spot the never-before-seen gut bacteria.
Human gut bacteria remain the most mysterious part of the human body. Previous studies tried to see what it’s beneficial for and concluded that the intestinal microbiome could either help us keep diseases and infections at bay or cause us harm. It all depends on how healthy is the human gut bacteria. If good bacteria populate it, then we’re going to live a healthy life, but when harmful bacteria are more prevalent in the intestines, then we’re in trouble.
Scientists still study the intestinal microbiome hoping to find out as much as possible about it and its benefits to humans. The new research revealed new 2,000 unknown human gut bacteria species, but further analysis of those strains would follow.
Scientists Discovered 2,000 Unknown Human Gut Bacteria Species
“We see a lot of the same bacterial species crop up in the data from European and North American populations. However, the few South American and African datasets we had access to for this study revealed significant diversity not present in the former populations. That suggests that collecting data from underrepresented populations is essential if we want to achieve a truly comprehensive picture of the composition of the human gut,” said Rob Finn from the European Bioinformatics Institute.
As the researchers reported, the bacteria species that inhabit the human gut are different from one region of the world to another. Antibiotics use and diet are also factors that influence human gut bacteria.
Now, the scientists identified those 2,000 unknown human gut bacteria species, but they have not cultured those strains in the lab, so the research needs to continue so that the researchers can learn more about these new bacteria species.
Vadim is a passionate writer on various topics but especially on stuff related to health, technology, and science. Therefore, for Great Lakes Ledger, Vadim will cover health and Sci&Tech news.