Editorial
HUMAN MICROBIOTA AND MICROBIOME
IVANA ANTAL
; Dr. Fran Mihaljević University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia
MARKO JELIĆ
; Dr. Fran Mihaljević University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia
SARA SILA
; Zagreb Children’s Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
SANJA KOLAČEK
; Zagreb Children’s Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
ARJANA TAMBIĆ ANDRAŠEVIĆ
; Dr. Fran Mihaljević University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Human microbiota consists of all microorganisms living in symbiosis with the human body, and human microbiome contains 100-fold more genes than the human genome. Although microorganisms can be found in various niches of the human body, the most numerous is the gut microbiota. The microbiota is variable among healthy people and unique for an individual, and it is infl uenced by many different factors. It is still unclear what exactly a healthy microbiota is, but some of its roles in physiological processes in health are known. On the other hand, in case of imbalance of the microbiota, or dysbiosis, diseases may develop. Dysbiosis is often associated with the emergence of many pathological conditions, of which the most studied are obesity, chronic infl ammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, colorectal cancer, allergic diseases of children, and oral cavity diseases. Development of methods that do not depend on the cultivation of microorganisms has signifi cantly improved the study of microbiota and contributed to better understanding of the interaction of nonpathogenic microorganism populations with each other and with their host. This is paving the way for studying the infl uence of microbiota on the development of diseases, as well as applying microbiota modifi cation for preventive and therapeutic purpose.
Keywords
microbiota; microbiome; dysbiosis; methods for studying microbiota
Hrčak ID:
218931
URI
Publication date:
4.4.2019.
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