Minagar Alireza, Jabbour Rabih
Department of Biotechnology (Bioinformatics), University of Maryland Global Campus, Adelphi, MD, USA.
University of Maryland Global Campus, Largo, MD, USA.
Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2025;189:91-106. doi: 10.1007/10_2023_243.
The human body constitutes a living environment for trillions of microorganisms, which establish the microbiome and, the largest population among them, reside within the gastrointestinal tract, establishing the gut microbiota. The term "gut microbiota" refers to a set of many microorganisms [mainly bacteria], which live symbiotically within the human host. The term "microbiome" means the collective genomic content of these microorganisms. The number of bacterial cells within the gut microbiota exceeds the host's cells; collectively and their genes quantitatively surpass the host's genes. Immense scientific research into the nature and function of the gut microbiota is unraveling its roles in certain human health activities such as metabolic, physiology, and immune activities and also in pathologic states and diseases. Interestingly, the microbiota, a dynamic ecosystem, inhabits a particular environment such as the human mouth or gut. Human microbiota can evolve and even adapt to the host's unique features such as eating habits, genetic makeup, underlying diseases, and even personalized habits. In the past decade, biologists and bioinformaticians have concentrated their research effort on the potential roles of the gut microbiome in the development of human diseases, particularly immune-mediated diseases and colorectal cancer, and have initiated the assessment of the impact of the gut microbiome on the host genome. In the present chapter, we focus on the biological features of gut microbiota, its physiology as a biological factory, and its impacts on the host's health and disease status.
人体是数万亿微生物的生存环境，这些微生物构成了微生物组，其中数量最多的群体存在于胃肠道内，形成了肠道微生物群。术语“肠道微生物群”指的是许多微生物（主要是细菌）的集合，它们在人类宿主内共生生活。术语“微生物组”指的是这些微生物的基因组总和。肠道微生物群中的细菌细胞数量超过宿主细胞；它们的基因总和在数量上超过宿主的基因。对肠道微生物群的性质和功能进行的大量科学研究正在揭示其在某些人类健康活动中的作用，如代谢、生理和免疫活动，以及在病理状态和疾病中的作用。有趣的是，微生物群作为一个动态的生态系统，栖息在特定的环境中，如人类口腔或肠道。人类微生物群可以进化，甚至适应宿主的独特特征，如饮食习惯、基因构成、基础疾病，甚至个人习惯。在过去十年中，生物学家和生物信息学家将研究重点集中在肠道微生物组在人类疾病，特别是免疫介导疾病和结直肠癌发展中的潜在作用，并开始评估肠道微生物组对宿主基因组的影响。在本章中，我们将重点关注肠道微生物群的生物学特征、其作为生物工厂的生理学以及其对宿主健康和疾病状态的影响。
