How much of me is human vs. microbe

[Hermitian]

From All Things Considered on 13-June,

"'The human we see in the mirror is made up of more microbes than human,' said Lita Proctor of the National Institutes of Health, who's leading the Human Microbiome Project."

Read that quote again. I am not exactly sure what she is trying to say. I think what she is meaning to say is that there are more microbe entities than human cells.
Or is she implying that pound for pound, there is more microbe mass than human mass in and on me?

Other sites validate the former. I have a hard time believing the latter.

[Sailboat]

I read just this morning that the amount of microbes, if all gathered somehow, might actually add up to "a few pounds."

[Fear Itself]

The human body contains trillions of microorganisms--out numbering human cells by 10 to one. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about one to three percent of the body's mass but play a vital role in human health.

http://news.yahoo.com/jcvi-researche...170206831.html

[Hermitian]

Ok. So I was right. The journalist probably just did what journalist do - completely bungle the meaning of any quote or concept even slightly scientific.

[Fear Itself]

Not really. From the article, here is the paragraph that precedes the quote you posted:

The human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only maybe one in 10 of those cells is actually — human. The rest are from bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms.

In that context, "more microbes" means the number of cells, not the weight of the microbiome.

[tdn]

The human body contains trillions of microorganisms--out numbering human cells by 10 to one. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about one to three percent of the body's mass but play a vital role in human health.

So antibiotics wouldn't make such great weight loss pills?

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by tdn

So antibiotics wouldn't make such great weight loss pills?

If you killed all the microbes in your body, weight loss would be the least of your problems.

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Not really. From the article, here is the paragraph that precedes the quote you posted:In that context, "more microbes" means the number of cells, not the weight of the microbiome.

There's an error if they are including viruses in the total of cells, since viruses are non-cellular.

As has been said, our bodies contain many more bacterial cells than human cells. However, the bacterial cells make up only a small percentage of our weight.

[Smeghead]

Originally Posted by Colibri

There's an error if they are including viruses in the total of cells, since viruses are non-cellular.

So, yes, they are screwing up anything even remotely scientific.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by Smeghead

So, yes, they are screwing up anything even remotely scientific.

Not if they are comparing the number of microbes to the number of human cells. Many microbiologists include viruses as microbes.

[Darth Panda]

Yeah, and how much of that are you really seeing in the mirror anyway? My guess would be roughly none.

[Fear Itself]

So you are taking that statement literally?

[Darth Panda]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

So you are taking that statement literally?

Well, yeah - kind of. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the reference to the mirror was for.

[Fear Itself]

I'm guessing you find life very irritating.

[Darth Panda]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

I'm guessing you find life very irritating.

Sometimes. Not today, though.

eta: Maybe it's just because we don't know each other well - but my sense of humor is pretty dry sometimes.

[Chronos]

Darth, I might not know you very well, but I'm on quite good terms with your microbes.

[Dung Beetle]

You might enjoy this short story:

Fever Dream, by Ray Bradbury

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Not if they are comparing the number of microbes to the number of human cells. Many microbiologists include viruses as microbes.

In the quote in your second post, they are in fact comparing the number of human cells to the number of microbe cells, and even if you count viruses as "microbes" they don't have cells.

[TruCelt]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

I'm guessing you find life very irritating.

ROFL! There's nothing more amusing for the sarcasm-deficient than watching two dry-humour types reduced to fisticuffs because neither can recognize the other's attempt to joke.

[Darth Panda]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Darth, I might not know you very well, but I'm on quite good terms with your microbes.

Yeah, they grow on you.

[Michael63129]

The vast majority of the microbes in your body are in your large intestine (a large part of feces is dead and living bacteria); the rest live on body surfaces like skin and inside body cavities; your actual flesh very likely has no microbes in it, or very few (your immune system will kill any that do penetrate skin or intestinal walls), so it isn't really accurate to say that your body is made up of x% microbes.

[Hero From Sector 7G]

If you take the "sack of space a human occupies" bacteria cells outnumber human cells by an order of magnitude.

However, all of this bacteria is technically outside the epidermis. A human is a tube within a tube, and your GI tract is protected by tissue similar to your skin. It would be disastrous if all that bacteria were allowed free entry into our body.

Edit: Much of the mentioned bacteria live on your skin and in your digestive tract.

The relationship with our bacteria is fascinating, and there is lots of neat research on the topic; from fecal transplants, to behavior modification.