Microbiome Preserved for a Thousand years?

A Microbial Pompeii?

        Could the microbiome, a strong and fairly complex community of microbes, really last over a thousand years? According to researchers, the microbiome in the mouth has been preserved in the dental plague of thousand-year-old skeletons’ teeth. Researchers are calling this discovery the “microbial Pompeii”. These skeletons belong to the citizens of Pompeii, who were encased and preserved under volcanic ash in AD 1100. Microbes were discovered under the dental plague of skeletons’ teeth, and researchers say this is because the plague is acting as a time capsule and fossilizing, allowing it to preserve bacteria and food particles in the teeth of ancient skeletons. Researchers have found some of these microbes to be the same as the ones we have today.

       Astonishingly, the microbes that cause gum disease today were present on the teeth of the skeletons with dental disease. Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola are two species that were found in the teeth of these ancient skeletons, and are also a common cause of gum disease today. From these microbes, researchers were able to tell that the ancient citizens of Pompeii really didn’t brush their teeth very often or at all, thus causing gum disease. So what other microbes could we have in common with these ancient people? If researchers were able to find the preserved microbiome in this culture of people, can they find it in others? Is there any way that other microbes in the body, like the gut, were also preserved? The fact that these microbes are aiding researchers to discover more about ancient cultures is incredible. Hopefully researchers will continue to dive into this subject and look into other historical cultures for more microbes.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/microbial-pompeii-found-on-1000-year-old-teeth-140225.htm

Solving Obesity Through the Power of Microbes?

    

     Human Microbiome - A Solution to Obesity?

           

Obesity has been a huge problem in the world we live in today. It is one of the top leading risks of deaths in the world, causing cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and multiple disorders. It can also cause diabetes. A solution to reducing or even resolving obesity is critical. Adjusting bacteria in our microbiome might be that solution.

Researchers have recently discovered that a drug targeting intestinal bacteria in the guts of mice could potentially be applied to humans, and therefore lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes. The researchers first fed a high-fat diet to mice. They then fed half of those mice tempol, an antioxidant drug. After three weeks, the researchers found that the mice that received tempol were much less obese than those that did not receive it. They concluded that somehow this drug affected the microbiome of the mice. The tempol apparently reduces some members of a bacteria known as Lactobacillus in the guts of the mice. This affects the bile acids in the intestinal tract, and somehow aids in controlling weight gain. Researchers are still unsure about why the drug, tempol, controls weight gain the way it does. They hope that with this new discovery, they can come up with several treatments for diabetes and obesity in humans.

Now, researchers need to test the treatments and its effectiveness somehow to check for any potential side effects, including cancer. Since this discovery is relatively new, there are still a lot of unknowns. If applied to humans dealing with obesity, will tempol really control weight gain, or simply make us loose weight easier? If the bacteria in the human microbiome were to be tweaked in a way that controlled our weight, what other changes in our intestines might come up? Could this affect our way of living, and bring up other health problems? The unknown of this new discovery is concerning. Messing with the microbes in our gut in order to control weight gain might seem harmless but in doing so we could trigger the unexpected. Therefore, researchers need to handle this new discovery carefully, and make sure they are clear on any side effects it might have before introducing it to the public.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130924113452.htm

Could we really live to be 500 years old?

500 years is a long time.. 

           Scientists have been trying to crack the code on extending human lifespan for years. They’ve focused on the bacteria that inhabit us, on curing disease and increasing our general health. Now they believe that recent research that is scientifically shown to extend worms’ lives might be the key to extending a humans life.

            Researchers manipulated two genetic pathways in the tiny microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, which increased its lifespan dramatically. This organism's lifespan multiplied by a factor of 5, which researchers believe is the equivalent of 400 to 500 human years. Scientists claim that if they can apply this to us, our lifespan will extend dramatically. Of course, researchers say this needs to work on a mammal first. They plan to use mice in their future research, and with a bit more alterations, they believe this could work. What would this mean for the mice, though?

Even if scientists do figure out how to apply this to humans, would it really benefit the world to increase our lifespan? With the already high population and its rapid growth, the concept of it taking nearly 500 years for an individual to die naturally seems a bit over the top. Not to mention that with the damage we humans have already done to the environment, the world might not live to see a couple more decades. That would diminish the diversity of human intelligence, which could easily mean that if there is a said person in the near future who is going to save this world, he/she might never be born to do that. Of course, these are just possible outcomes; nobody will be able to predict what will actually happen until we live to be 500.   

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2523086/Could-humans-live-500-years-old-Scientists-believe-genetic-tweaks-significantly-extend-lifespan.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/640691.htm

Microbes and Mosquitoes

Microbes on our skin, can attract mosquitoes?

Have you ever wondered how mosquitoes choose their victims? Based on this article, it has little to do with how sweet and tasty our blood is. Researchers have recently discovered that mosquitoes might be attracted to us based on the microbes living on our skin. The bacteria on our skin leave a distinct body odor that attracts the mosquitoes. Of course we all sweat and leave behind some kind of odor, but researchers have found that this particular odor is linked to the amount of bacteria on our skin.

Researchers began their study in the Netherlands. They were curious as to what kinds of people attracted the Anaopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito, a mosquito known to transmit malaria. By using men as their test subjects, researchers found that this particular mosquito was attracted to people with the most, yet least diverse amount of bacteria on their skin. Researchers believe that with this new finding, they can find new techniques for preventing malaria. I do believe that this new discovery will help in preventing malaria, however, what about other diseases that are transmitted through other mosquitoes? So far we know that a large amount of bacteria on a person will attract this particular mosquito, but what about others? Are mosquitoes that transmit different infectious diseases attracted to other kinds of microbes on our skin, more or less bacteria? Or is it all mostly the same for all mosquitoes, no matter the disease? Researchers did find that the general population of mosquitoes are attracted to people with more cholesterol or steroids on their skin rather than less. They also found that people who give off more carbon dioxide are more likely to be bit by a mosquito, though we all give off carbon dioxide. So what does this mean for us? Could cutting down on cholesterol and steroids really help prevent getting bit?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/skin-microbes-mosquitoes-bacteria-attractive_n_1174754.html