Cell: How many viruses are lurking in the human body?

Humans, like other mammals, are occupied by trillions of microbes, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, collectively known as the commensal flora
.

There are a large number of bacteria parasitic in the human intestine, and the imbalance of these intestinal flora affects human obesity, enteritis, autoimmune diseases, response to cancer treatment drugs, and even human lifespan
.

In February 2021, Trevor D.

By mining 28,060 human gut metagenomes and 2,898 cultured human gut bacterial genomes worldwide, the research team built an intestinal phage database (GPD) containing 142809 bacteriophages, more than half of which are novel viruses
that have never been discovered before.

The study, which builds the largest and most comprehensive database of human gut bacteriophages to date, paves the way for a better understanding of the role of viruses in the gut microbiome, and also helps to discover new ways
to treat infections with drug-resistant bacteria.

Phage (Phage), is a class of viruses infected with bacteria, archaea and other microorganisms, bacteriophages must be parasitic in living bacteria, there is strict host specificity, which depends on the phage adsorption organs and receptor surface receptors molecular structure and complementarity
.

The study identified a new group of viruses with a common ancestor and named it Gubaphage, the second largest virus clade in the human gut, after crAssphage
, discovered in 2014.

The research team said that the study's rigorous quality control process, coupled with the use of machine learning methods, was able to minimize contamination and obtain a highly complete viral genome
.

This high-quality viral genome paves the way for a better understanding of the role of viruses in the gut microbiome, helping to discover new treatments, such as using bacteriophages as antimicrobials to eliminate drug-resistant bacteria
.

In May 2019, Nature Medicine published a paper in which a little girl infected with the rare Mycobacterium tuberculosis underwent engineered bacteriophage therapy while dying and desperate, and the phage successfully eliminated the bacteria that infected her, pulling her back
from the sickle of death.

Overall, the research team built the most comprehensive and complete database of human gut bacteriophages (GPDs) containing about 142809 bacteriophages worldwide, more than half of which are novel viruses
that have never been discovered before, by mining 28,060 human gut metagenomes and 2,898 cultured human gut bacterial genomes worldwide.

Today, bacteriophage research is reviving, and the creation of this high-quality, large-scale intestinal phage database (GPD) will provide a wealth of resources
for researchers studying bacteriophages and their role in regulating gut bacteria and their own health.

Original Source:

Luis F.