Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are
Rob Knight: Como definen os nosos microbios quen somos
Rob Knight explores the unseen microbial world that exists literally right under our noses -- and everywhere else on (and in) our bodies. Full bio
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about the health of our bodies,
pola saúde dos nosos corpos
at figuring out what's important.
de decatármonos do que é importante.
que pensaban que necesitarían no máis alá
they thought they'd need in the afterlife,
preserved the stomach, the lungs,
drained it out through the nose,
sacábano polo nariz
do for us anyway?
á fin e ao cabo?
de órgano esquecido no noso corpo,
of neglected organ in our bodies
tan importante para sermos quen somos
as important to who we are,
que tratásemos sen consideración ningunha.
and treated with such disregard.
through new scientific advances,
mediante novos avances científicos,
we think of ourselves.
consideramos que somos.
have something just like that:
que temos algo xustamente así:
in our gut that are important.
os microbios dos intestinos.
to a whole range of differences
para unha chea de diferenzas
way more often than others?
moito máis que a outra?
experience out camping is actually true.
de acampada son certas despois de todo.
get bitten by mosquitos,
me pican os mosquitos,
atráeos a moreas.
attracts them in droves,
different microbes on our skin
diferentes microbios na pel
that the mosquitos detect.
que os mosquitos detectan.
in the field of medicine.
no eido da medicina.
you have in your gut
que teñas nos intestinos
are toxic to your liver.
son tóxicos para o teu fígado.
eficaces para os teus problemas cardíacos.
drugs will work for your heart condition.
con quen queres deitarte.
who you want to have sex with.
é só cuestión de tempo.
before we find out. (Laughter)
a huge range of functions.
un enorme abano de funcións.
be affecting our behavior.
microbial communities look like?
comunidades microbianas?
para entendermos a biodiversidade.
for understanding biodiversity.
have different landscapes of organisms
teñen distintas paisaxes de organismos
un lugar ou outro
of one place or another
although I've got to be honest with you:
pero vouvos ser sincero:
iguais baixo un microscopio.
look the same under a microscope.
identificalos visualmente,
to identify them visually,
as súas secuencias de ADN.
at their DNA sequences,
the Human Microbiome Project,
o Proxecto do Microbioma Humano,
de dólares polo NIH
of researchers came together
investigadores se xuntaron
os As, Tes, Gues e Ces
in the human body.
they look like this.
teñen este aspecto.
to tell who lives where now, isn't it?
dicir onde vive cada un, non si?
técnicas informáticas que permiten
computational techniques that allow us
of sequence data
de datos de secuencias
that's a bit more useful as a map,
un pouco máis útil como mapa.
with the human microbiome data
con datos do microbioma humano,
os microbios complexos
all the complex microbes
parecen todos iguais.
all look the same.
represents one microbial community
representa unha comunidade de microbios
dun voluntario con boa saúde.
of one healthy volunteer.
parts of the map in different colors,
partes do mapa con diferentes cores,
regions of the body,
está a comunidade oral.
the oral community up there in green.
está a comunidade da pel,
we have the skin community in blue,
we have the fecal community in brown.
temos a comunidade fecal en marrón.
in different parts of the body
de distintas partes do corpo
uns dos outros.
those two microbial communities
entre estas dúas comunidades microbianas
entre os microbios deste arrecife
between the microbes in this reef
when you think about it.
of difference in the human body
no corpo humano
to your microbial ecology
na nosa ecoloxía microbiana
que dúas persoas sexan case iguais
look basically the same
en termos do noso ADN humano.
in terms of our human DNA.
in terms of your human DNA
en termos de ADN humano
para os microbios intestinais.
un 10% de similitude
in terms of your gut microbes.
en canto aos microbios intestinais.
entre as bacterias desta pradeira
as the bacteria on this prairie
of functions that I told you about,
que vos contei,
tipos de enfermidades,
in different kinds of diseases,
of those microbes in our gut,
destes microbios nos intestinos,
you think of as our bodies.
que é o noso corpo.
of about 10 trillion human cells,
10 billóns de células humanas
as 100 trillion microbial cells.
de células microbianas.
we're human because of our DNA,
polo noso ADN,
about 20,000 human genes,
ten sobre uns 20.000 xenes humanos,
to 20 million microbial genes.
de xenes microbianos.
we're vastly outnumbered
estamos amplamente superados
rastros de ADN humano,
to traces of our human DNA,
do noso ADN microbiano
of our microbial DNA
a palma da man dunha persoa
the palm of someone's hand up
que usa habitualmente
that they use routinely
hai uns anos,
a few years ago,
apareceu en CSI: Miami,
it was featured on "CSI: Miami,"
come from in the first place?
os microbios que temos?
algunha sospeita ao respecto,
some dark suspicions about that,
co equipamento do teu ordenador
you to your computer equipment
relativamente estables,
are relatively stable,
microbial identity
meses, incluso anos.
months, even years.
first microbial communities
comunidades microbianas
do xeito en que nacemos.
the regular way,
like the vaginal community,
coma os da comunidade vaxinal,
nacidos por cesárea
delivered by C-section,
moi semellantes aos da pel.
look like skin.
with some of the differences
algunhas das diferenzas
even more obesity,
ou incluso ata máis obesidade,
to microbes now,
until recently, every surviving mammal
todos os mamíferos vivos
of those protective microbes
microbios protectores
pode ser realmente importante
might be really important
that we now know involve the microbiome.
sabemos que se relacionan co microbioma.
a couple of years ago
hai un par de anos
with those vaginal microbes
cos microbios vaxinais
whether this has had an effect
se tivo algún efecto
no matter how much we love her,
por moito que a queiramos,
enough of a sample size
aínda non tivo ningunha infección de oído,
she hasn't had an ear infection yet,
crossed on that one.
ensaios clínicos con máis nenos
to do clinical trials with more children
this has a protective effect generally.
ten un efecto protector xeral.
on what microbes we have initially,
nos microbios que temos inicialmente
again here is this map
Microbioma Humano,
a sample from one body site
unha mostra dun sitio do corpo
develop physically.
you're going to see
desenvolverse microbianamente.
develop microbially.
at this one baby's stool,
que representa os intestinos,
which represents the gut,
for almost two and a half years.
case dous anos e medio.
is going to start off as this yellow dot,
basically in the vaginal community,
basicamente na comunidade vaxinal,
over these two and a half years
estes dous anos e medio
all the way down
de voluntarios sans, aquí abaixo.
healthy volunteers down at the bottom.
and we'll see how that happens.
como sucede isto.
each step in this is just one week,
é só unha semana,
das feces deste neno,
of the feces of this one child,
are much greater
son moito maiores
individual healthy adults
do Microbioma Humano,
down at the bottom.
abaixo de todo.
to approach the adult fecal community.
á comunidade fecal adulta.
is about to happen here.
está por ocorrer aquí.
for an ear infection.
para unha infección de oído.
na comunidade,
this huge change in the community,
relativamente rápida.
just over these few weeks,
no desenvolvemento normal,
of normal development,
relativamente rápida,
dun adulto san,
reached the healthy adult stool community,
because it raises fundamental questions
xa que suscita preguntas vitais
na vida dun neno a diferentes idades.
at different ages in a child's life.
the microbiome is changing so rapidly,
cando o microbioma cambia tan rápido,
ao mar revolto,
into a stormy sea,
that if you give children antibiotics
se lles damos antibióticos aos nenos,
to become obese later on
padecer obesidade no futuro
or only get them later,
ou se os toman máis adiante,
may have profound impacts
primeiras etapas pode ter un efecto
and on later health
e na saúde posterior
in addition to the effects
dos efectos que os antibióticos teñen
on antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
que son capaces de resistilos,
os ecosistemas microbianos dos intestinos
our gut microbial ecosystems,
to regard antibiotics with the same horror
os antibióticos co mesmo pánico
for those metal tools
para as ferramentas de metal
para facer puré os cerebros,
to mush up the brains
for embalming.
todas estas funcións importantes
have all these important functions,
just over the past few years,
cun amplo rango de enfermidades,
of different diseases,
inflamatoria intestinal,
segundo semella,
large effect, as it turns out,
se alguén é delgado ou obeso
whether you're lean or obese
as a medical test,
é un chisco problemática,
which of these people is obese
quen destas persoas é obesa
about their gut microbes,
os seus microbios intestinais.
if we sequence their complete genomes
o seu xenoma completo
was obese with about 60 percent accuracy.
cunha precisión de aproximadamente o 60%.
of microbes that you carry around with you
que levamos connosco
para algunhas enfermidades
for some health conditions
moitas máis cousas.
to all kinds of additional conditions,
con moitas outras enfermidades,
a obesidade.
these microbial differences
se estas diferenzas microbianas
son a causa ou o efecto?
are cause or effect?
criar algúns ratos
is we can raise some mice
nunha burbulla libre de xermes.
in a germ-free bubble.
that we think are important,
que consideremos importantes,
from an obese mouse
dun rato obeso
into a genetically normal mouse
a un rato xeneticamente normal,
with no microbes of its own,
sen microbios propios,
from a regular mouse.
dun rato normal.
is absolutely amazing, though.
isto pasa é sorprendente.
is that the microbes
é que os microbios
cunha maior eficiencia
more efficiently from the same diet,
from their food,
da mesma alimentación,
are actually affecting their behavior.
modifican o seu comportamento.
more than the normal mouse,
un rato normal
comer tanto como queren.
eat as much as they want.
can affect mammalian behavior.
modificar o comportamento dos mamíferos.
also do this sort of thing across species,
estas cousas noutras especies.
from an obese person
you've raised germ-free,
que foron criados sen xermes,
por engordar máis
from a lean person,
dunha persoa delgada.
microbiana coa que inoculalos
that we inoculate them with
from gaining this weight.
para a desnutrición.
by the Gates Foundation,
pola Fundación Gates,
is children in Malawi
unha forma grave de desnutrición.
a profound form of malnutrition,
community transplanted into them
a comunidade do kwashiorkor
the same peanut butter-based supplement
suplemento a base de manteiga de cacahuete
the children in the clinic,
non teñen ningún problema.
of the kwashiorkor children do fine.
that we can pilot therapies
que podemos ensaiar distintas terapias
in a whole bunch of different mice
dunha persoa en concreto
all the way down to the individual level.
á medida de cada persoa.
que todo o mundo teña a oportunidade
that everyone has a chance
comezamos un proxecto
called American Gut,
for yourself on this microbial map.
un lugar neste mapa microbiano.
science project that we know of --
máis grande que se coñece.
have signed up at this point.
máis de 8.000 persoas.
they send in their samples,
A xente mándanos mostras,
e entregámoslles os resultados.
and then release the results back to them.
to scientists, to educators,
anonimamente, a científicos, docentes,
of the general public, and so forth,
do público xeral, etc.,
poidan ter acceso aos datos.
o noso laboratorio ás visitas
at the BioFrontiers Institute,
and lasers to look at poop,
e láseres para analizar feces
everyone wants to know.
saber os detalles.
si que queredes,
if you're interested
por se estades interesados
are not just important
in terms of our health,
we've been able to visualize
que descubrimos
da Univerisdade de Minnesota.
at the University of Minnesota.
of the human microbiome again.
o mapa do microbioma humano
of some people with C. diff.
con Clostridium difficile,
up to 20 times a day,
ata 20 veces por día.
antibiotic therapy for two years
con antibióticos durante dous anos
elixibles para o ensaio.
some of the stool from a healthy donor,
dos microbios fecais dun doador san,
contra os microbios malos
do battle with the bad microbes
de recibir un transplante
are about to get a transplant
in the gut community.
na comunidade intestinal.
coming to resemble the donor's community,
con comunidades semellantes ás do doador,
of this discovery.
deste descubrimento.
que os microbios interveñen
have implications
á obesidade
bowel disease to obesity,
no autismo e a depresión.
a kind of microbial GPS,
de GPS dos microbios,
where we are currently
queremos ir e que cómpre facer
and what we need to do
facelo abondo sinxelo
to make this simple enough
(Risas)
(Laughter)
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