title: Genomic approaches to studying the human microbiota.
abstract: The human body is colonized by a vast array of microbes, which form communities of bacteria, viruses and microbial eukaryotes that are specific to each anatomical environment. Every community must be studied as a whole because many organisms have never been cultured independently, and this poses formidable challenges. The advent of next-generation DNA sequencing has allowed more sophisticated analysis and sampling of these complex systems by culture-independent methods. These methods are revealing differences in community structure between anatomical sites, between individuals, and between healthy and diseased states, and are transforming our view of human biology.
authors.affiliation: The Genome Institute, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. gweinsto@genome.wustl.edu
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Weinstock
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044822:Biodiversity; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D054892:Metagenome / Q000235:genetics*