title: The vocabulary of microbiome research: a proposal.
abstract: The advancement of DNA/RNA, proteins, and metabolite analytical platforms, combined with increased computing technologies, has transformed the field of microbial community analysis. This transformation is evident by the exponential increase in the number of publications describing the composition and structure, and sometimes function, of the microbial communities inhabiting the human body. This rapid evolution of the field has been accompanied by confusion in the vocabulary used to describe different aspects of these communities and their environments. The misuse of terms such as microbiome, microbiota, metabolomic, and metagenome and metagenomics among others has contributed to misunderstanding of many study results by the scientific community and the general public alike. A few review articles have previously defined those terms, but mainly as sidebars, and no clear definitions or use cases have been published. In this editorial, we aim to propose clear definitions of each of these terms, which we would implore scientists in the field to adopt and perfect.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff School of Biosciences, Division of Microbiology, Cardiff University, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AT United Kingdom ; Centre for Digestive and Gut Health, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julian R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Marchesi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 801 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 USA ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 685 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 USA.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ravel