Biotop Mensch. Wir sind besiedelt

The Human Biotope After the sequencing of the human genome, which had been largely finished in the year 2000, two new projects are devoted to the analysis of the microorganisms colonizing on the human body. In both projects, only the prokaryotes are analysed (eubacteria and archaea). The US‐American “Human Microbiome Project” is aimed to characterize the microbial communities (microbiota) of the skin, the nasal, the gastrointestinal tract and the urogenital tracts and their relevance for our health and for diseases. The EU provides financial support for the project entitled ”Metagenomics of the Human Intestine”. It concentrates on the prokaryotes of our gastrointestinal tract and their significance for the inflammatory bowel disease and for the adipositas. The already known functions of the microbiota of our skin and gastrointestinal tract are described.