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Humans Are Superorganisms

Posted by timothy on from the one-way-of-looking-at-things dept.

colonist writes "You are not completely human. You are a superorganism made up of human cells, fungi, bacteria and viruses. That's the view of scientists from Imperial College London and Astra Zeneca, published in Nature Biotechnology. Microbes in the gut can weigh up to one kilogram, forming the second largest metabolic 'organ'. Human cells and genes are outnumbered by microbial cells and genes. 'Understanding the man-microbe interaction is likely to be crucial in realising personalised medicine and healthcare in the future,' says the lead researcher."

8 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Well by FiReaNGeL · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's a point of view. Under this concept, the only simple organisms would be bacterial, because even eukaryotic cells could be seen as 'superorganisms', harboring components of bacterial origins (mitochondrions) we can't live without.

    And I guess, under this point of view, that even Earth itself could be seen as a very large, living and breathing 'superorganism'... not unlike environmentalists see it, actually.

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    Eureka Science News - automatically updated
    1. Re:Well by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Under this concept, the only simple organisms would be bacterial, because even eukaryotic cells could be seen as 'superorganisms', harboring components of bacterial origins (mitochondrions) we can't live without.

      Mitochondria are certainly not generally considered organisms. I assume this would be because they are not capable of independent reproduction (like virii, which were mentioned incorrectly in the summary as organisms). I'm fairly sure eukaryotic cells aren't considered organisms either.

      And I guess, under this point of view, that even Earth itself could be seen as a very large, living and breathing 'superorganism'... not unlike environmentalists see it, actually.

      Google for "Gaia". This is exactly what ssome environmentalists say.

  2. No surprise for some of us.... by Bad+Boy+Marty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having experienced acute diverticulitis some years ago, and having been treated with antibiotics that essentially killed off all the flora & fauna in my intestines, this is no surprise to me at all. The human intestines (and I presume the same for most mammals) by themselves are just amazingly inefficient at extracting nutrition. Most of the work of digestion is actually performed by the microbes & bacteria & fungus that live there (and usually, quite happily).

    (The alternative to the antibiotics was surgery, and while I do appreciate my surgeon's intent to avoid surgery, I might just do it the other way around if it should ever happen again. Don't want it to happen to you? Eat *lots* of whole grain and other fiber. You *really* don't want to annoy all them living things in your intestines!)

    --
    RHCE; are you certified? Karma: ambiguous.
  3. Clean up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Ups, I better get a terminator to clean up the mess.

  4. Re:What's new? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What's new is that someone has recognized that this fits the definition of a superorganism and pointed it out. I think it's somewhat interesting, but it's kind of obvious to anyone who hasn't taken their biology classes too seriously.

  5. yay by ShadowXOmega · · Score: 2, Interesting

    mmmmm
    May be that theory of James Lovelock (dont remember the name..heehe) (earth as Gaia) looks like an very early version of this....

    mmmm or may be all the life in earth are nano-machine (dna-machines) based ...mmmm natural nanites......

    DNA: main program, HDD, and protein sequencer(no ST stuff)
    Protein: main nanite assembly block , maked by DNA(read DNA)
    Virus: all purpose nano-machines, maded by proteins (read Protein)
    Organels: purpose-based nanite based in protein
    Bacteria: structure based in organels and proteins Cell: complex nanite maded by various kinds of nanites (the things go fractal)
    ...
    ...
    Organs: complex strucuture based in simpler strcutures...that are based in aother even simpler structures(read Cells)
    ...
    ...
    Our scale lifeforms: structure based on organs(read Organs)

    dna-machines in fractal architecture.... doh i need to rest a bit

  6. Superorganism by delta_avi_delta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the point is this new way of thinking opens the door to medical treatments that take into account our unicellular friends. For example, as someone pointed out, when you get sick, the traditional response has been to dose you with antibiotics, which kill *all* the bacteria in your gut.
    Lately researchers have discovered a link between gut bacteria and the immune system, suggesting that gut bacteria somehow "teach" the immune system to ignore things like pollen, thus preventing allergies. If you nuke these bacteria as part of a stomach bug treatment, it's important to replace them - and this is new to mecical thinking. In the future we may follow up a course of antibiotics with a course of probiotics to compensate.

  7. Lynn Margulis' Research by jte · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Am I the only one suprised not to see the microbiologist Lynn Margulis' name mentioned here?