2023-05-06 18:07:00
Baby microbiome
Robert Klatt
- Im Countless known bacteria live in the gut microbiome. About the little was known about the viruses that live in the gut
- Therefore, researchers have Baby diaper samples examined in which they are around Detected 10,000 unknown viruses
It was previously largely unknown which viruses live in the intestinal microbiome of babies. Researchers therefore examined diaper samples and discovered around 10,000 unknown viruses.
Copenhagen (Denmark). The human organism contains countless bacteria and viruses that continuously interact in the digestive system. Although it is already known that the intestinal bacteria play an essential role in young children in order to protect them from chronic diseases that occur later, science knows little about the viruses that live in the intestine. researchers of University of Copenhagen around Dennis Sandris Nielsen have therefore examined diaper samples from 647 healthy Danish babies for five years.
“We found an extraordinary number of unknown viruses in the stool of these babies. Not only thousands of new virus species – but to our surprise, the viruses represented more than 200 families of previously undescribed viruses. This means that healthy children are romping around with an extreme diversity of enteric viruses from an early age, which are likely to have a significant impact on whether they develop various diseases later in life.”
According to their publication in the specialist magazine Nature Microbiology the researchers identified a total of 10,000 virus species in the children’s stool samples, a number 10 times greater than bacterial species in the same children. The virus species in a interactive map visualized span 248 different virus families, of which only 16 were previously known. The remaining 232 previously unknown virus families were named after the children whose diapers made the study possible. As a result, new virus families have been given names such as Sylvesterviridae, Rigmorviridae, and Tristanviridae.
90 percent bacteriophage
The scientists discovered that 90 percent of the viruses found are bacteriophages, i.e. viruses that infect bacteria and not human cells. These viruses are considered “allies” by experts because they do not cause disease. The remaining 10 percent are eukaryotic viruses that attach to human cells.
Nielsen explained that this suggests that the average child will carry between 10 and 20 of these viruses at any one time without being clearly ill. Nielsen emphasized that little is currently known about the actual connections. One guess is that these viruses may be relevant to train the immune system to later detect infections. However, there is also the possibility that they represent a risk factor for previously unknown diseases.
Stronger immune system through viruses?
According to Shiraz Shah, the research group has created the first systematic overview of the diversity of enteric viruses. The high number of viruses in the intestines of infants could be due to the fact that the immune system is still developing and needs a large number of bacteriophages for additional protection. Shiraz Shah hypothesized that the inability of the immune system to distinguish between beneficial and harmful microorganisms at one year of age results in an extraordinarily high diversity of enteric viruses, which may be necessary to survive later in life Protecting lives from chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes.
“This is the first time that such a systematic overview of the diversity of enteric viruses has been produced. It offers a completely new basis for discovering the importance of viruses for our microbiome and the development of the immune system. Our hypothesis is that due to the fact that the immune system has not yet learned to separate the wheat from the chaff by one year of age, an exceptionally high biodiversity of enteric viruses arises and is likely needed to protect against chronic diseases such as asthma later in life and protect diabetes.”
Nature Microbiology, doi: 10.1038/s41564-023-01345-7
#unknown #viruses #diapers