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Author(s): Jason Lloyd-Price [1, 2]; Anup Mahurkar [3]; Gholamali Rahnavard [1, 2]; Jonathan Crabtree [3]; Joshua Orvis [3]; A. Brantley Hall [2]; Arthur Brady [3]; Heather H. Creasy [3]; Carrie [...], The characterization of baseline microbial and functional diversity in the human microbiome has enabled studies of microbiome-related disease, diversity, biogeography, and molecular function. The National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome Project has provided one of the broadest such characterizations so far. Here we introduce a second wave of data from the study, comprising 1,631 new metagenomes (2,355 total) targeting diverse body sites with multiple time points in 265 individuals. We applied updated profiling and assembly methods to provide new characterizations of microbiome personalization. Strain identification revealed subspecies clades specific to body sites; it also quantified species with phylogenetic diversity under-represented in isolate genomes. Body-wide functional profiling classified pathways into universal, human-enriched, and body site-enriched subsets. Finally, temporal analysis decomposed microbial variation into rapidly variable, moderately variable, and stable subsets. This study furthers our knowledge of baseline human microbial diversity and enables an understanding of personalized microbiome function and dynamics.

An overview is presented on advances in microbiology and its influence on conservation medicine, or the study of animal and human health within an ecological context. The author argues that research on microbial ecosystems may be applicable on larger-scale ecosystems, providing information for management strategies.

A technological explosion is on the horizon that will revolutionize the testing platforms available for molecular diagnostics. Soon, the instrumentation and technology will be made available to quantitate pathogens rapidly and precisely, detect genetic mutations or polymorphisms and provide answers to questions relating to pathogenesis, host immunity and drug resistance.