Our Microflora, Microbiome, and Health

A. Watch the following videos and study the materials

• Human Microflora: all microorganisms living in and on our body
• Human Microbiome: all the genes of all microorganisms living in and on our body

• Human Microbiome (by NPR, 2013, 5 min) (Links to an external site.)
• How bacteria rule over you body (2017, 7 min) (Links to an external site.)
• Our microbiome and our health (by Dr John Cryan, 2017, 16 min) (Links to an external site.)
• You are a walking bacterial colony (by Jeroen Raes, 2012, 9 min) (Links to an external site.)

B. Post a paragraph discussing one of the following questions (5 pts):

1. What is microflora and microbiome? what is the difference?
2. Compare the number of microorganismal cells to human cells in our body. Compare total number microbial genes to human genes in our body.
3. What is the relationship between microflora, microbiome and our health?

C. Then, read your class-mates posts and reply to at least two of your classmates. Your comments should be meaningful (not simply “Yeah, me too” or “I agree”). (2.5 pts for each full meaningful response). Make sure you include following in your reply:

• start by greeting the class-mate by name
• contribute to one or two of his/her discussion point with your view
• Pose any related questions you might have
• your name

D. Answer any questions you might get from class-mates