Number of species in microbiome

Range 500-1000 unitless
Organism Human Homo sapiens
Reference Sears CL. A dynamic partnership: celebrating our gut flora. Anaerobe. 2005 Oct11(5):247-51.PubMed ID16701579
Primary Source Hooper LV, Gordon JI. Commensal host-bacterial relationships in the gut. Science. 2001 May 11 292(5519):1115-8.PubMed ID11352068
Comments ‘microbiome’ - the collective genome of our indigenous microbes. See BNID 105655 for 400-500 bacterial species in the gut. See Macpherson & Harris 2004, PMID 15173836, p.480 box 2 2nd paragraph: "It is clear that the flora of experimental animals generated in this way [gnotobiotic, germ-free] is far simpler than in humans (approximately 1,000 species) or in conventional experimental animals."
Entered by Uri M
ID 102387