DNA in my belly button?
The human belly button hosts a surprisingly diverse microbial ecosystem. Sequencing reveals thousands of bacterial and archaeal phylotypes living on human skin.
A hidden microbial ecosystem
Studies sequencing hundreds of belly buttons found nearly 2,400 distinct phylotypes, most of which appear in only a small fraction of individuals.
Why sequencing is essential
Many of these microbes cannot be cultured in the lab. Amplicon sequencing using universal bacterial and archaeal primers enables identification that traditional microbiology cannot achieve.
What researchers learned
- Extreme diversity across individuals
- Rare archaea detected on human skin
- Stable core microbes shared across populations
Interested in microbiome sequencing?
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