Mikrobiootade

Mikrobiootade is the Estonian term for microbiota, the communities of microorganisms that inhabit a given environment. In humans, mikrobiootade exist on and inside the body, including the gut, skin, mouth, and vagina. The related term microbiome refers to the collective genomes of these organisms, while microbiota denotes the living communities themselves.

Microbial communities are composed of bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses. Each environment has a characteristic mix of taxa, with a core group shared among many individuals and a variable component shaped by factors such as age, diet, antibiotic exposure, hygiene, and geography. Diversity within a sample (alpha diversity) and differences between samples (beta diversity) are commonly used to describe mikrobiootade.

Functions of mikrobiootade include aiding digestion, metabolizing nutrients, and producing metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids. They contribute to the development and modulation of the immune system, help protect against pathogens by occupying niches and educating immune responses, and can influence barrier function and drug metabolism. Disruption of these communities, or dysbiosis, has been associated with various conditions, including inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, allergies, dental diseases, and some skin disorders.

Study and interpretation: research on mikrobiootade relies on sequencing-based and culture-independent methods, such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomics, to characterize composition and potential function. Challenges include substantial inter-individual variation, environmental influences, and the difficulty of proving causal relationships between microbial changes and health outcomes.

See also: microbiome, dysbiosis, microbiota.