Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin, and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics, and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analyzed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats to date. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81–99% of the genera, enzyme families, and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology, and translational applications of the human microbiome.

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (microbiome) exist throughout the human body, playing fundamental roles in human health and disease. The NIH funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP) Consortium has established a population-scale framework which catalyzed significant development of metagenomic protocols resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. Here we present resources from a population of 242 healthy adults sampled at 15 to 18 body sites up to three times, which to date, have generated 5,177 microbial taxonomic profiles from 16S rRNA genes and over 3.5 Tb of metagenomic sequence. In parallel, approximately 800 human-associated reference genomes have been sequenced. Collectively, these data represent the largest resource to date describing the abundance and variety of the human microbiome, while providing a platform for current and future studies.

The Human Microbiome Project used rigorous good clinical practice standards to complete comprehensive body site sampling in healthy 18- to 40-yr-old adults, creating an unparalleled reference set of microbiome specimens. To ensure that specimens represented minimally perturbed microbiomes, we first screened potential participants using exclusion criteria based on health history, including the presence of systemic diseases (e.g., hypertension, cancer, or immunodeficiency or autoimmune disorders), use of potential immunomodulators, and recent use of antibiotics or probiotics. Subsequent physical examinations excluded individuals based on body mass index (BMI), cutaneous lesions, and oral health. We screened 554 individuals to enroll 300 (149 men and 151 women, mean age 26 yr, mean BMI 24 kg/m, 20.0% racial minority, and 10.7% Hispanic). We obtained specimens from the oral cavity, nares, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and vagina (15 specimens from men and 18 from women). The study evaluated longitudinal changes in an individual's microbiome by sampling 279 participants twice (mean 212 d after the first sampling; range 30-359 d) and 100 individuals 3 times (mean 72 d after the second sampling; range 30-224 d). This sampling strategy yielded 11,174 primary specimens, from which 12,479 DNA samples were submitted to 4 centers for metagenomic sequencing. Our clinical design and well-defined reference cohort has laid a foundation for microbiome research.

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Abstract. Platelets in circulation normally do not adhere to resting endothelial cells. However, in response to vascular injury they adhere to stimulated endothelium and thereby play an essential role in hemostasis and thrombosis. Infection with dengue-2 virus can cause illness accompanied by thrombocytopenia and hemorrhage. Increased adherence of platelets to stimulated endothelial cells could contribute to the thrombocytopenia. In this study, adherence of radioisotopically labeled platelets to 1) unstimulated, 2) lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated, and 3) dengue-2 virusinfected human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was measured in an in vitro assay. Primary HUVEC were cultured in 96-well tissue culture plates in the presence or absence of LPS or dengue-2 virus. These cells were coincubated with 3 H-adenine-labeled fresh platelets for 30 min after which the cells were assayed for adherent platelets. Within 30 min there was maximum adherence of platelets to confluent LPS-stimulated HUVEC (36 ± 4% over controls; P ‫ס‬ 0.005). In comparison, there was a significant increase in adherence to dengue-2 infected HUVEC (78 ± 7%; P Յ 0.001). Additionally, platelet adherence was visualized using fluorescent microscopy. Dengue-2 infection stimulated the HUVEC as monitored by expression of E-selectin. Platelets that adhered to dengue-2 or LPS-stimulated HUVEC were activated as visualized by dual fluorescent probes. These data demonstrate that human platelets adhere to dengue-2 virus-stimulated HUVEC and this interaction could contribute to the thrombocytopenia observed during infection.