do all species have a gut microbiome? I have heard much discussion regarding the bacteria in our gut. Is this phenomenon unique to us or do all species have additional bacteria living in stomach?
In: 10
Not every species have a gut (plants, fungi), but if there is a gut, bacteria will be brought in with the food and the gut is very unlikely to be sterile. The gut content is on the “outside” of the body in the sense that nutrients have to pass the gut wall in order to enter the body.
To add: Most organisms on Earth are adapted to very specific niches whereas Homo Sapiens in an extremely short time (Geologically speaking) have spread out to every environment on Earth – experiencing different climates, eating different plants, eating different animals – add on cooking and other food processing and we are extremely adaptable organisms.
If you’re living in a consistent niche then your gut biome can be more straightforward and consistent. But human are uniquely exposed to a high variety of foods and under constant assault of our prescription antibiotics that gut biome and the study therefore is becoming increasingly relevant.
Most likely yes, it’s just not especially well studied overall. Bacteria are everywhere and it stands to reason that some have evolved to survive most guts and in net those that help will do better then those that don’t. Note that carnivores avoid meat spoiling in great part by the extreme shortness of their digestive tracks: it doesn’t have time to spoil (i.g. bad bacteria to overgrow). There could be special cases like maybe bone vultures or the like who have especially extreme stomach acid but I’m not aware of this actually being the case.
Our cells themselves are likely combinations of multiple other types of cells. mitochondria for example are essentially separate cells that lives inside our cells, acting like a stomach for our cell in exchange for it’s protection.
Latest Answers