Open AccessThe human microbiome: ecosystem resilience and health
Author(s) -
Relman David A
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
nutrition reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.958
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1753-4887
pISSN - 0029-6643
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2012.00489.x
Subject(s) - microbiome , human microbiome , ecosystem , disturbance (geology) , ecology , psychological resilience , biology , keystone species , human health , indigenous , ecological stability , ecosystem health , resilience (materials science) , dysbiosis , ecosystem services , environmental resource management , environmental health , medicine , psychology , environmental science , bioinformatics , social psychology , paleontology , physics , thermodynamics
Given the importance of the microbiome for human health, both the stability and the response to disturbance of this microbial ecosystem are crucial issues. Yet, the current understanding of these factors is insufficient. Early data suggest there is relative stability in the microbiome of adults in the absence of gross perturbation, and that long‐term stability of the human indigenous microbial communities is maintained not by inertia but by the action of restorative forces within a dynamic system. After brief exposures to some antibiotics, there is an immediate and substantial perturbation and at least a partial recovery of taxonomic composition. Responses to antibiotics are individualized and are influenced by prior experience with the same antibiotic. These findings suggest that the human microbiome has properties of resilience. Besides serving to reveal critical underlying functional attributes, microbial interactions, and keystone species within the indigenous microbiota, the response to disturbance may have value in predicting future instability and disease and in managing the human microbial ecosystem.