November, 11, 2016
Before we start, here’s a quick refresher:
GOAL
A recent substantial increase inhuman microbiome research has provided new, diverse information among multiplemedical and biological disciplines. We attempted to compose this information into a unified, non-contradictory concept.
We tried to answer why the human colon and microbiome occupy such a significant space within the body and outweigh other important organs, like the brain and heart, combined.
In order to compose a cohesive concept using diverse information, we observed the microbiome from two perspectives:
1. The logic upon which the biosphere formed and functions
2. The microorganism-sphere that surrounds and actively influences all organisms in the biosphere
This allowed to structure divergent information into a comprehensive understanding using systematic, inclusive reasoning.
Microbiome (or microbiota): The community of microorganisms that live on and in the human body.
Biology: The study of life and living organisms.
Biosphere: The global natural ecosystem that integrates all living organisms and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
Food Chain 1 - Pyramid: Illustrates the hierarchical series of organisms, each dependent on the next as a source of food. These food chains form food pyramids that start with producers (plants)and end with apex predators. For example, grass is eaten by a rabbit; a rabbit is eaten by a wolf.
Food Chain 2 - Biocenosis: Illustrates the passage or transformation of a resource in its journey from creation to utilization. Biocenosis is a system in which all participants live in synergy with each other and depend on one another for livelihood. For example, a grape that is uneaten is decomposed by microorganisms and proceeds to fuel the growth of other plants as fertilizer. Our definition of an integrated microbiome fits into the idea of a healthy, balanced biocenosis.
Gut Microbiome: The community of microorganisms that live in the human digestive tract. There is a clear distinction between the functions of the small intestine microbiome and the large intestine microbiome.
Small Intestine Microbiome: The community of microorganisms that live from the oral cavity, continue through the stomach and small intestine, and end at the start of the large intestine. The small intestine microbiome is mainly colonized by aerobic microorganisms which need oxygen to live. They help digest food and absorb nutrients through the epithelial cells covering the villi of the small intestine and protect the human body from many active pathological microorganisms.
Large Intestine Microbiome: The community of microorganisms that live in the human colon (large intestine). The large intestine microbiome is mainly colonized by anaerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria which are slowed down and eventually killed by oxygen. The microorganisms of the large intestine microbiome are planted in the colon by bacteria spores in food that pass through the digestive tract unharmed and start their life cycle in the colon.
Microorganisms: A microscopic organism like bacteria, virus, fungus or yeast that surround every organism. This includes one-celled organisms like prokaryotes (that do not have a nuclei, but have cycle DNA), eukaryotes (that do have a nuclei). Yeasts are considered fungi, but yeasts differ from fungi by function greatly. The society that microorganisms form also contain viruses and bacteriophages (a virus that infects bacteria).
Organism: In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system, such as an animal, plant, fungus, archaeon, or bacterium.
Technosphere: The technological environments humans have created isolate themselves from the turbulence and unpredictability of nature and live more comfortably.
Before we could arrive at our results, we had to form a basis of understanding that would allow us to arrive at our conclusion. Below, we explain the path of reasoning about the biosphere and the human microbiome that allowed us to reach our conclusion.
Humans are a product of evolution within the biosphere.
Like any biological object of the biosphere, a human plays an interactive role in upholding food chains, facilitating biocenosis, and is subject to the laws of the biosphere.
Humans strive to create an artificial comfortable technosphere without fully understanding the laws of the natural biosphere, leading to unintended problems.
A technosphere is the technological environment humans have created to isolate themselves from the turbulence and unpredictability of nature and live more comfortably. A human belongs to both the biosphere and the technosphere, but sometimes, the technosphere isolates humans from the biosphere more than necessary.
For example, in the 20th century, food production companies understood they must add vitamins back into food after modern preparation technology removed them. In the 21st century, advanced food preparation has caused humans to lose the beneficial microorganisms that were always naturally present in every food.
In order for the limited resources on earth to be used most efficiently, the biosphere is structured to recycle unused resources back into food chains through the aid of microorganisms.
Any organism created within the biosphere contains a specific set of microorganisms that help it live and return the organism’s resources back into food chain circulation. When an organism eats a member of a different species according to evolutionary optimized food chains, the microorganisms the consuming organism receives from the food helps the consumer digest it. If a resource or food is unused or uneaten, the microorganisms within that resource break down the organism and return it into food chain circulation.
Within the technosphere, humans slowdown the biosphere’s recycling speed by removing the naturally occurring microorganisms that used to live within human food.
Humans no longer experience the benefits from advantageous microorganisms in food that support health. Instead, humans receive unintentional microorganisms resistant to food processing technology. These microorganisms do not support human health.
Microorganisms comprise a large part of the biosphere.
Their omnipresence forms a microorganism-sphere that interacts with all organisms. Every organism experiences the influence of four types of microorganisms: non-specific neutral, specific opportunistic, pathogenic and beneficial. Non-specific neutral and specific opportunistic microorganisms may become pathogenic if a human does not observe the biosphere’s laws and becomes ill/weak.
Microorganisms regulateinformational pathways within the biosphere.
They play an important role in horizontal gene transfer between species as carriers of various mobile genetic constructs capable of gene transfer. For example, bacteria can transfer antibiotic-resistance. In stable ecosystems, organisms may share common genes with the help of microorganisms.
This picture shows an evolutionary tree. The gray lines show the path of philogenisis of different species– how one species is the basis for evolution of others. The green lines show the horizontal transfer of genetic information from one species to another.
Since a human is a member of the biosphere, the above listed statements all apply to the human being.
The entire human digestive tract works in synergy with microorganisms.
Microorganisms that live within thedigestive tract of humans can be clearly divided into two major groups: thesmall intestine community and the large intestine community.
The small intestine community ofmicroorganisms live from the oral cavity, continue through the stomach andsmall intestine, and end at the start of the large intestine. The smallintestine microbiome is mainly colonized by aerobic microorganisms which needoxygen to live. They help digest food and absorb nutrients through theepithelial cells covering the villi of the small intestine and protect thehuman body from many active pathological microorganisms.
The large intestine community of microorganisms live in the human colon (large intestine). The large intestine microbiome is mainly colonized by anaerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria which are slowed down and eventually killed by oxygen. The microorganisms of the large intestine microbiome are planted in the colon by bacteria spores in food that pass through the digestive tract unharmed and start their life cycle in the colon. This community helps connect humans to the biosphere. We focused on the microbiome of the large intestine.
The microbiome of the large intestine completes two primary functions:
8.1 Regulates human activity within the food chain type 2.
8.2 Enables genetic information transfer.
The microbiome regulates human activity within the food chain type 2.
A. The microbiome influences humanfood preference.
The biosphere works through the microbiome by influencing human food preferences to eat the right foods. Part of the microorganism-sphere’s task is to ensure that organisms consume andexpel quality food product for the next consumer in the food chain. In order for this to happen correctly, the microbiome has the power to influence the food humans prefer. Eating according to evolutionary confirmed food chains reinforces health.
B. The microbiome upholds health, prevents disease (including cardiovascular disease and cancer), and influences obesity control, immune system balance, hormonal and metabolism balance, detoxification, and in stressful conditions (starvation), synthesis of essential amino acids & vitamins.
For instance, experiments with gnotabiotics (animals raised in sterile environments that miss microorganisms from their bodies) demonstrate how important the microbiome is to an organism’s health. Gnotabiotics experienced vitamin and amino acid deficiency, problems with immune and hormonal balance, and obesity issues regardless of diet.
C. When humans consume the wrong foods, microorganisms that are not adapted to the human body colonize the microbiome and lead to disease. The basis of many chronic diseases is a sick microbiome. According to the laws of the biosphere, this is completely correct– an organism that behaves incorrectly should be disassembled and their resources returned to the biosphere efficiently through microorganisms.
The microbiome enables genetic information transfer.
The microbiome plays a very important informational role as a representative of the biosphere within the human body.
The microbiome is a repository of genetic material within our colon. Although gene transfer through the microbiome is not well understood, humans have experienced negative effects of gene transfer such as antibiotic resistance and endotoxin plasmid transfer between bacteria. Microbiome gene transfer has become increasingly important due to the widespread use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foods. Many genes and toxins that were used to initially modify GMOs may retain the ability to transfect new genes/toxins within microorganisms and begin to act independently from our control. These packets of genetic information can by used by bacteria to synthesize high levels of toxins and can participate in horizontal gene transfer between species.
A healthy microbiome is a microorganism society that is well integrated into the ecosystem, and through this connection, integrates a human into the biosphere.
A microbiome is a representative of the biosphere within a human that influences human health. The more the microbiome is investigated, the more apparent it becomes that a healthy microbiome upholds health and prevents chronic disease. On the contrary, an unhealthy microbiome society comprised of unfriendly microorganisms is the basis of many modern chronic diseases. It is becoming apparent that in order to heal a human from many chronic diseases, it is imperative to first heal the microbiome.
One of the primary causes of sick human microbiomes is the removal of necessary friendly microorganisms from food through modern food processing technology. In order keep our microbiomes healthy, we must learn how to return friendly microorganisms back into our food systematically as we did with vitamins and minerals.
