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Our extended genotype—An argument for the study of domesticated microbes
Author(s) -
Bruessow Friederike,
Brüssow Harald
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.15001
Subject(s) - domestication , biology , genotype , microbiome , argument (complex analysis) , fermentation in food processing , evolutionary biology , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , genetics , gene , bacteria , lactic acid , biochemistry
Summary We interpret the domesticated organisms—plants, animals, and the domesticated microbes used for food fermentation—as an extended genotype of humans due to their close relationship with our species. We propose to analyse the role of microbes in traditionally fermented food with the approaches used in the human microbiome project, and we expect to find associations with ethnic groups, explaining part of human (culinary) culture.