{"id":163434,"date":"2024-06-25T13:41:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T19:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=163434"},"modified":"2024-12-10T17:06:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T23:06:46","slug":"human-microbiome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/human-microbiome\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Human Microbiome and Why Is It Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We should think of the human microbiome as an ecosystem, a complex system with many species and interactions<\/strong>, and the microbiota as the species this consists of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The microbiota includes all the microorganisms that live in our bodies. Together with their DNA, proteins, and other molecules, as well as their interaction with the environment, they form the microbiome.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The microbiome \u201cis an ecosystem,<\/strong>\u201d says Yocanx\u00f3chitl Perfecto<\/a>, a research professor from Tec de Monterrey\u2019s Guadalajara campus, when speaking to TecScience<\/strong><\/em>. Perfecto is referring to an increasingly common scientific view in which the trillions of microorganisms that inhabit our bodies are understood to offer a large variety of services or benefits to human health, in a similar fashion to the way ecosystems provide services to humanity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These trillions of microorganisms are mainly bacteria, although they also include fungi, viruses, and parasites, to name but a few. All these beings are known as the microbiota. However, just like any ecosystem, the microbiota is not only composed of species<\/strong> but also of their interactions and activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human microbiome is therefore defined as the set of all the microorganisms that live in association with the human body and the microbiota as a whole, with its DNA, proteins, and other molecules it produces.<\/strong> This also includes its interaction with the environment, namely, our bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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