Go with the gut: Our symbiotic relationship with our intestinal bacteria

By Andi Horvath

Chemistry researcher Assoc Prof Spencer Williams talks about the rapidly emerging understanding of human microbiota - the diverse and numerous microorganisms that reside on and within our bodies - and particularly how the composition of our gut flora can determine the state of our own health.

ANDI HORVATH I'm Dr Andi Horvath, thanks for joining us. Today we bring you up close, to your own microbes. There are literally trillions of microbes that live in and on our body. They include bacteria, fungi like yeasts, parasites and viruses. They outnumber our human cells 10 to one and their genes outnumber our genes one hundred fold. But humans are not just a walking talking host for a complex system of microorganisms it's in fact a critical symbiosis, we can't exist without them and they need for us for survival as well.

Microbes perform functions that our cells can't do. Like digest certain carbohydrates, but the community of microbes, known as the microbiome provide metabolites that actually affect our human genes and they regulate things like our digestive processes, our hormonal and immune systems and even our brains.

You've probably heard of the Human Genome Project, the map of all human genes. Well now it's the era of the Human Microbiome Project. Since 2012 scientists have aimed to characterise the microbes, their genes and how they connect to our health and diseases. For example, the causes of rheumatoid arthritis are kind of still unknown, but scientific evidence suggest that an out of balance microbiome might be to blame. Microbiome issues could also be behind diabetes, obesity as well as certain cancers and mental disorders. The optimal balance of the numbers and types of microbes do matter and many bacteria keep us healthy by controlling the right human genes for healthy human functioning.

To discuss the world of the microbiome and his recent research into gut microbe chemistry is associate professor, Spencer Williams, from the School of Chemistry and the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne. Spencer's recent work explores the chemistry of yeast eating gut bacteria, which has provided new clues into new treatments for people suffering bowel diseases.

Welcome to Up Close Spencer.

SPENCER WILLIAMS Good morning, Andi.

ANDI HORVATH Spencer, orientate us. Where exactly is the human microbiome, is it mainly in our gut and how on earth does it get there?

SPENCER WILLIAMS So the human microbiome describes a population of bacteria, a community of bacteria that live at the surfaces of our body. Any surface of the body that is exposed to the environment has bacteria inhabiting it. So the obvious surfaces would be the skin and there's certainly bacteria that live on the skin, but the more important orifices are around your eyes, your nose, and your mouth and in particular the gastrointestinal tract. The bulk of the human microbiome is found in the gastrointestinal tract.

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Go with the gut: Our symbiotic relationship with our intestinal bacteria