Human microbiota by body site

Definition and types of human microbiota

Human microbiota are microorganisms—including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and archaea—living in specific environments of the human body. They occur in multiple body sites such as the stomach, intestines, skin, genitals, and other regions, and different body parts host different microbial communities. Some microbes are specialized for particular sites, while others are found across many microbiomes. Overall, the human body is estimated to contain on the order of tens of trillions of bacteria, distributed across thousands of microbial species. Microbiota can be broadly categorized by bacterial shape into cocci (spherical, often non-motile), bacilli (rod-shaped), and spirochetes (spiral-shaped, motile via axial filaments). Beyond these general bacterial categories, the topic also highlights that microbiota differ by anatomical region, including oral, respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, vaginal/uterine/ovarian follicle, and male reproductive tract microbiota.

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Body-site variation in microbial communities

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