Original title: Microbiome definition re-visited: old concepts and new challenges
A microbiome is not simply a list of microbes: it also involves how they interact with one another and with their surroundings. This article reports expert discussions and a worldwide survey about what the term should mean and how it differs from “microbiotaThe microbes found in a particular place.,” the microbes in a particular place. The authors propose a definition and recommendations that account for changing microbial communities, their interactions, and new research tools. They hope clearer shared terms will make microbiome studies easier to compare.
Imagine a kitchen where several people cook together. Knowing who is in the kitchen does not tell you how they share tools, affect one another’s work, or change the meal over time. In this paper, the people are the microbes, while the kitchen, their relationships, and how those relationships shift are part of what researchers mean by a microbiome.
Researchers in different fields can use the same word to mean different things, making studies harder to compare. Clearer definitions and recommendations could help standardize research and speed the transfer of findings into practice. The authors also connect microbiome standards to challenges in planetary health.
The abstract describes proposed definitions and recommendations, but does not report tests showing that they improve study comparability or speed the use of findings in practice. It does not specify a settled set of best practices or show that researchers have adopted the proposals.
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Microbiome definition re-visited: old concepts and new challenges — Gabriele Berg, Daria Rybakova, Doreen Fischer et al. — Microbiome — doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00875-0
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.