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British geneticists have announced the completion of a comprehensive study of the diversity of viruses in the human intestinal flora. As a result, more than 140,000 species of viruses were identified, more than half of which were unknown.
And Cell Magazine notes that the human gut is a diverse biological environment. In addition to bacteria, thousands of viruses called phages live in them, which can infect bacteria.
Any imbalance in the intestinal flora is known and often leads to intestinal infections, allergies and obesity. However, relatively little is known about the effect of phages on human health.
The study, carried out by experts from the Singer Institute and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), included more than 28,000 samples of intestinal flora collected from various regions of the world.
Using the metagenomic method, the DNA sequencing of a mixed population of organisms, the researchers were able to identify and catalog 142,809 types of viruses, more than half of which had not been previously discovered.
“It is important to know that not all viruses are harmful and that they are an integral part of the gut ecosystem,” said Dr. Alexander Almeida of the Singer Institute. “It is interesting to see so many unknown species living in our intestines, and it is important to know the relationship between them and human health.”
The researchers note that most of these viruses are not dangerous to humans, because they have DNA that differs from the DNA of dangerous viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 and the Zika virus. Which confirms it, all these samples were taken from healthy people who do not suffer from any disease.
The results of this study formed the basis of the GPD database, which experts say will become an important resource for those studying bacteriophages and their role in regulating human health.
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