Human Microbiome Project

The Human Microbiome Project ( HMP ) is an initiative of the U.S. National Institutes of Health with the aim of identifying and characterizing the human microbiome, ie the microorganisms associated with humans (ie, its microbial flora ).

It was launched in 2008 and is designed as a five -year project with a total budget of 115 million dollars. The project will help to clarify the question of how changes in the human microbiome affect health and disease. Diseases whose connection is to be explored for the microbiome are, among others intestinal inflammation, cancer or obesity.

2012, a first conclusion was drawn. About 5000 samples of approximately 240 adults were examined. The gene pool of the human microbiome is estimated at 8 million for proteins coding genes, 360 times more than is present in the human genome (about 22,000 ). Some of the enzymes provided by the microbes are essential for human survival. The number of microbial species in the microbiome is estimated to be 10,000 in healthy adults, of which 81-99 % are estimated recorded and known by the project. The HMP project was able to present a reference database for the gene pool of the microbiome of healthy adults.