The tale of our other genome

摘要

Did you know that humans have two genomes? Indeed, although most people appreciate that humans inherit a genome, many fail to realize that the collective genetic information encoded in all the microorganisms acquired from the environment, which are collectively known as the microbiome and generally live harmoniously with us, constitutes a second genome. Reporting in Science, a team from the International Human Microbiome Consortium (Nelson et al.) discloses the consortiums second offering: an initial reference-genome sequencing of 178 bacterial species from the human microbiome. The first instalment was published by Qin et al. a few months ago.