Tag: indigenous
The Microbiota Vault
In January, I moderated a symposium that was based (virtually) in Peru to discuss preserving both the culture and the microbes of its indigenous people. Similar events, organized by the Global Microbiome Network, are planned in other regions around the world where indigenous populations still exist. Why is this important?
I’ve written before (here and here) about the importance of a healthy microbiota – those trillions of microbes that live in and on our bodies, especially in the gut. The collection of genes inside these microbial cells in called the microbiome. There are more genes in the microbiome than there are genes in the human body. These microbial genes perform necessary functions in our bodies like helping to digest food and producing vitamins. If some of these microbes die off, the functions performed by their genes are also lost. The loss of microbial species in our guts appears to be playing a role in the rise in chronic diseases that we are seeing in industrialized society. More and more research studies confirm the role of the microbiome in health and disease.