Microbiota vs Microbiome: Definitions & Key Differences

Overview

Allucent talks about the main differences between microbiome and microbiota, two terms that are very similar in microbiology and clinical research. This page explains what they mean, how they are used in scientific studies, and why it is important to know the difference for drug development, research on human health, and clinical trials that focus on the microbiome.

Medicine is continually advancing. New bodily mechanisms are uncovered and understood as analytical platforms improve. It happens almost by a zeitgeist, with several locations around the world happening upon similar discoveries and subsequent researchers leveraging those findings to prompt an evolution of those understandings. The transformation manifests by a sudden influx of publications describing the phenomenon, but this change is evident in the volume of work surrounding the discovery. It also becomes apparent in the vocabulary used to describe elements of the mechanism.

Lately, microbial communities have received increased attention and a relative explosion in study volume, but there are still misunderstandings about what each term means exactly. This article will review the vocabulary related to the body’s microbial communities and explain how the terms differ from one another.

What is Microbiome?

Microbiome refers to the entire habitat. The term includes microorganisms such as bacteria and eukaryotes as well the genes that comprise them and the environmental factors that influence them. While some people limit the definition of microbiome to include only the collection of genes or genomes in a microbiota, that combination is more accurately called a metagenome.

In 2008, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed the Human Microbiome Project. It sequences the microbes contained in the human body and catalogs them.

What is Microbiota?

Microbiota is the unique combination of microorganisms that exist in a specific environment. This may include bacteria, archaea, or eukaryotes. The term itself comes from a 2001 paper by Lederberg and McCray on buzzwords in genomics and proteomics, although the word biome predates 1920. Microbiota is the result of genetics and environment.

Microbiota vs. Microbiome

Microbiota is very different from microbiome. While the microbiome may contain microbiota, microbiome is MORE than microbiota alone. To put it simply, if microbiome is a house, the microbiota is the people who live there. There are other things in the house, such as furniture. In the next section, we will review some of those components as well as words that sound and look similar and could be confused.

What is the Metagenome?

The metagenome is the genes and genomes that exist within the microbiota. The metagenome is identified through DNA extraction (metagenomics). Identifying the metagenome may help explain the way specific microbiota function.

What is Microflora and How Does it Relate?

Microflora is a very old term, but it has only more recently been applied toward humans. Traditionally, it primarily referred to microscopic plants. Today, that definition has been expanded to encompass all manner of bacteria and microorganisms, including human intestinal flora. However, microflora, in the latter sense, is more appropriate for popular literature. It lacks the specificity necessary for inclusion in medical literature or science as a whole.

Conclusion

This article reviewed common terms related to microbial communities. It is the first in a series of articles that explain the connection between microbiome and immunotherapy drugs (IOD). In our next post, we will discuss the impact of microbiota on cancer and cancer therapies. Stay tuned!

Sources

Gevers D, Knight R, Petrosino JF, et al. The Human Microbiome Project: a community resource for the healthy human microbiome. PLoS Biol. 2012;10(8):e1001377. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001377 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22904687/
Lederberg J, McCray AT. ‘Ome sweet ‘omics – a genealogical treasury of words. The Scientist. 2001;15(7):8–8. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c06e/e544b5e87e82f7705c401e1eff5cc8e1f780.pdf?_ga=2.78678612.1501589133.1598356620-2085924697.1588006444
Marchesi, J. R., & Ravel, J. (2015). The vocabulary of microbiome research: a proposal. Microbiome, 3, 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-015-0094-5
Sandhu K.V., E. Sherwin, H. Schellekens, et al. 2016. Feeding the microbiota–gut–brain axis: diet, microbiome and neuropsychiatry. Translational Research. 179: 223–244. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kiran_Sandhu3/publication/309363523_Feeding_the_Microbiota-Gut-Brain_Axis_Diet_Microbiome_and_Neuropsychiatry/links/5a4d021f0f7e9b8284c4c023/Feeding-the-Microbiota-Gut-Brain-Axis-Diet-Microbiome-and-Neuropsychiatry.pdf

FAQs

1 1. What's the difference between microbiota and microbiome? +

A group of organisms (microbiota) that share a particular environment, such as the bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tract, are termed "microbiota." However, the term "microbiome" refers to the collective genomes (DNA) of each of the microbiota's members as well as their physical structures and all of the other characteristics of their shared environment.

2 2. What does microbiota mean in plain English? +

Microbiota refers to the group of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that naturally live in or on the human body, such as in the gut, skin, mouth, and lungs.

3 3. What is the microbiome, and why does it matter? +

The microbiome is the collection of microorganisms and their genes that affect human health. It is a major focus of modern medical and clinical research because it is very important for digestion, the immune system, metabolism, and the development of diseases.

4 4. What makes microbiome and microbiota important for clinical research? +

Understanding how these microbes work will help health professionals better understand how diseases develop, how patients will react to treatment, and how different patients respond to treatment even though they are the same age or have the same condition. This information is also entering into clinical studies and providing professionals with tools to improve outcomes from treatments, particularly oncology, gastroenterology, and immunology.

5 5. How do scientists study the microbiome and microbiota when making drugs? +

Researchers use the microbiome and microbiota to understand how drugs are metabolised, how they produce therapeutic benefits, and how much risk they carry. These processes are essential in developing personalised therapies and designing clinical trials and regulatory processes.

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What is the Difference Between Microbiome and Microbiota?