“Enterotypes aren’t quite as well-defined as, say, blood groups, but they could have similar uses as medical markers. The microbiome helps us to digest our food and it affects our susceptibility to diseases; the enterotypes could reflect these roles. Each enterotype was dominated by a specific genus of bacteria, and varied in the proportions of the other members. They produce energy in subtly different ways, they’re particularly efficient at breaking down different nutrients, and they specialise at creating different vitamins.”
This article reports on findings that there are “enterotypes”. While I have been seeing slightly different findings from others, this just goes to show that we keep finding out new things about our bacteria.
One other thing: at the end of this article is a very interesting slide show with snippets of other interesting findings related to our microbiome. Do flip through it.
[via @changeist]