2,000 new species of bacteria in the human bowel discovered

Researchers from the European molecular biology laboratory (EMBL) and the British Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have almost identified 2,000 new, in the human intestine live bacteria species. The results also showed that the intestinal flora in the different countries of the world differs significantly from each other.

The human gut is home to many species of microbes, which are collectively referred to as the intestinal microbiota. Now, using new calculation methods have been reconstructed nearly 2,000 previously unknown bacteria in the gut. "Using bioinformatic methods, we can identify bacteria, which we cultivate in the lab. This is a bit like the Reconstruct of hundreds of Puzzles, after all the parts were mixed together, without knowing what the final image look soll", Rob Finn, a group leader at EMBL explained.

With the research work of the scientists is a comprehensive list of commonly occurring microbes in the North American and European intestine came closer. The study has also shown that the composition of the intestinal bacteria in the different countries of the world differs significantly: "The few South American and African records, to which we had access for this study, showed a significant diversity, in the other population groups are not available war", Finn says. The researchers hope to understand with the help of the results of human diseases and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders. ZOU