Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are
羅布•奈特: 微生物“成就”你我!
Rob Knight explores the unseen microbial world that exists literally right under our noses -- and everywhere else on (and in) our bodies. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
about the health of our bodies,
個人的健康問題,
at figuring out what's important.
they thought they'd need in the afterlife,
他們來世的軀體,
preserved the stomach, the lungs,
drained it out through the nose,
do for us anyway?
of neglected organ in our bodies
的一個體內器官
as important to who we are,
and treated with such disregard.
through new scientific advances,
we think of ourselves.
have something just like that:
in our gut that are important.
微生物值得關注。
to a whole range of differences
way more often than others?
experience out camping is actually true.
經驗談都沒有造假。
get bitten by mosquitos,
attracts them in droves,
different microbes on our skin
微生物形成了
that the mosquitos detect.
蚊蟲的反應不同。
in the field of medicine.
發揮著重要作用。
you have in your gut
are toxic to your liver.
有毒副作用。
drugs will work for your heart condition.
影響你的心臟功能。
who you want to have sex with.
before we find out. (Laughter)
找到答案(笑聲)
a huge range of functions.
be affecting our behavior.
microbial communities look like?
有著怎樣的結構呢?
for understanding biodiversity.
了解生物多樣性。
have different landscapes of organisms
of one place or another
although I've got to be honest with you:
但我也必須承認:
look the same under a microscope.
to identify them visually,
視覺上區分他們,
at their DNA sequences,
基因序列來辨別,
the Human Microbiome Project,
項目的計劃中,
of researchers came together
數百位研究人員
in the human body.
的排列組合。
they look like this.
這樣一幅景象。
to tell who lives where now, isn't it?
的具體位置,對嗎?
computational techniques that allow us
了一種計算技術
of sequence data
到兆兆字節
that's a bit more useful as a map,
更高的圖譜樣式,
with the human microbiome data
健康的志願受試者
all the complex microbes
all look the same.
都差不多。
represents one microbial community
每個點是代表一位健康
of one healthy volunteer.
的一個微生物群落。
parts of the map in different colors,
用不同顏色
regions of the body,
the oral community up there in green.
是口腔微生物群落。
we have the skin community in blue,
肌膚的微生物群落,
we have the fecal community in brown.
肛腸區的微生物群落。
in different parts of the body
those two microbial communities
between the microbes in this reef
when you think about it.
of difference in the human body
to your microbial ecology
可以是天差地別的。
look basically the same
in terms of our human DNA.
每個人都幾近相同。
in terms of your human DNA
in terms of your gut microbes.
as the bacteria on this prairie
正是這些各不相同的微生物
of functions that I told you about,
in different kinds of diseases,
集結成群,發揮作用的?
of those microbes in our gut,
you think of as our bodies.
of about 10 trillion human cells,
個人體細胞組成的,
as 100 trillion microbial cells.
達100萬億個。
we're human because of our DNA,
about 20,000 human genes,
to 20 million microbial genes.
200萬至2000萬個。
we're vastly outnumbered
微生物共生體組成的。
to traces of our human DNA,
of our microbial DNA
the palm of someone's hand up
that they use routinely
a few years ago,
it was featured on "CSI: Miami,"
令它街知巷聞,
come from in the first place?
some dark suspicions about that,
邪惡的疑慮,
you to your computer equipment
留在計算機設備上的
are relatively stable,
microbial identity
months, even years.
first microbial communities
the regular way,
like the vaginal community,
於陰道部位的群落特征,
delivered by C-section,
look like skin.
肌膚的微生物群落。
with some of the differences
even more obesity,
認為微生物可能
to microbes now,
until recently, every surviving mammal
of those protective microbes
might be really important
that we now know involve the microbiome.
微生物學條件的重要因素。
a couple of years ago
with those vaginal microbes
whether this has had an effect
no matter how much we love her,
無論我們多愛她,
enough of a sample size
she hasn't had an ear infection yet,
尚未患支氣管炎,
crossed on that one.
to do clinical trials with more children
觀察其他孩子,
this has a protective effect generally.
是否能起到一般保護作用。
on what microbes we have initially,
初生時體內微生物的不同,
那麼接下來我們該做什麼?
again here is this map
a sample from one body site
代表 250 位健康成年人
develop physically.
you're going to see
develop microbially.
在微生物意義上的蛻變。
at this one baby's stool,
which represents the gut,
for almost two and a half years.
is going to start off as this yellow dot,
就是嬰兒的微生物發育過程,
basically in the vaginal community,
over these two and a half years
all the way down
healthy volunteers down at the bottom.
糞便菌落相吻合。
and we'll see how that happens.
each step in this is just one week,
of the feces of this one child,
are much greater
individual healthy adults
down at the bottom.
成人個體的微生物菌落。
to approach the adult fecal community.
它正開始接近成人糞便菌落。
is about to happen here.
for an ear infection.
this huge change in the community,
just over these few weeks,
of normal development,
reached the healthy adult stool community,
儘管有抗生素的干預,
because it raises fundamental questions
at different ages in a child's life.
進行干預會引發某些問題。
the microbiome is changing so rapidly,
into a stormy sea,
that if you give children antibiotics
to become obese later on
or only get them later,
may have profound impacts
and on later health
in addition to the effects
因為將來會有一天,
on antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
our gut microbial ecosystems,
to regard antibiotics with the same horror
for those metal tools
to mush up the brains
然後使腦漿流盡
for embalming.
have all these important functions,
just over the past few years,
of different diseases,
多種疾患息息相關,
large effect, as it turns out,
whether you're lean or obese
as a medical test,
某些方面仍存在障礙,
which of these people is obese
about their gut microbes,
if we sequence their complete genomes
was obese with about 60 percent accuracy.
推斷誰患有肥胖症。
of microbes that you carry around with you
for some health conditions
to all kinds of additional conditions,
these microbial differences
are cause or effect?
is we can raise some mice
in a germ-free bubble.
無自身微生物的小鼠,
that we think are important,
我們認為重要的微生物,
from an obese mouse
身上提取微生物,
into a genetically normal mouse
with no microbes of its own,
基因正常小鼠身上時,
from a regular mouse.
is absolutely amazing, though.
is that the microbes
more efficiently from the same diet,
from their food,
are actually affecting their behavior.
會影響它們的行為。
more than the normal mouse,
eat as much as they want.
只會越吃越胖。
can affect mammalian behavior.
影響哺乳動物的行為。
also do this sort of thing across species,
這一做法能否沿用到其他物種?
from an obese person
you've raised germ-free,
from a lean person,
that we inoculate them with
給這些小鼠接種,
from gaining this weight.
by the Gates Foundation,
is children in Malawi
a profound form of malnutrition,
即惡性營養不良的兒童,
community transplanted into them
the same peanut butter-based supplement
the children in the clinic,
同卵雙胞胎身上
of the kwashiorkor children do fine.
that we can pilot therapies
它意味著我們可以
in a whole bunch of different mice
all the way down to the individual level.
that everyone has a chance
called American Gut,
for yourself on this microbial map.
science project that we know of --
have signed up at this point.
they send in their samples,
and then release the results back to them.
再將結果寄回給他們。
to scientists, to educators,
of the general public, and so forth,
還有感興趣的普通民眾,
at the BioFrontiers Institute,
and lasers to look at poop,
機器人和鐳射來觀察“粑粑”,
everyone wants to know.
if you're interested
are not just important
in terms of our health,
we've been able to visualize
at the University of Minnesota.
of the human microbiome again.
人類微生物菌落圖。
of some people with C. diff.
難辨梭狀芽孢桿菌攜帶者的菌落。
up to 20 times a day,
antibiotic therapy for two years
兩年的抗生素療法仍不見成效,
some of the stool from a healthy donor,
do battle with the bad microbes
are about to get a transplant
in the gut community.
coming to resemble the donor's community,
形成了與捐贈者相似的菌落,
of this discovery.
have implications
bowel disease to obesity,
a kind of microbial GPS,
where we are currently
and what we need to do
to make this simple enough
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rob Knight - Microbial ecologistRob Knight explores the unseen microbial world that exists literally right under our noses -- and everywhere else on (and in) our bodies.
Why you should listen
Using scatological research methods that might repel the squeamish, microbial researcher Rob Knight uncovers the secret ecosystem (or "microbiome") of microbes that inhabit our bodies -- and the bodies of every creature on earth. In the process, he’s discovered a complex internal ecology that affects everything from weight loss to our susceptibility to disease. As he said to Nature in 2012, "What motivates me, from a pragmatic standpoint, is how understanding the microbial world might help us improve human and environmental health.”
Knight’s recent projects include the American Gut, an attempt to map the unique microbiome of the United States using open-access data mining tools and citizen-scientists to discover how lifestyle and diet affect our internal flora and fauna, and our overall health.
Knight is the author of the TED Book, Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes.
Rob Knight | Speaker | TED.com