Are We Really Vastly Outnumbered? Revisiting the Ratio of Bacterial to Host Cells in Humans

Ron Sender; Shai Fuchs; Ron Milo

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.013

Are We Really Vastly Outnumbered? Revisiting the Ratio of Bacterial to Host Cells in Humans

Cell. 2016 Jan 28;164(3):337-40. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.013.

Authors

Ron Sender¹, Shai Fuchs², Ron Milo³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
² Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel. Electronic address: shai.fuchs@sickkids.ca.
³ Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel. Electronic address: ron.milo@weizmann.ac.il.

PMID: 26824647
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.013

Abstract

It is often presented as common knowledge that, in the human body, bacteria outnumber human cells by a ratio of at least 10:1. Revisiting the question, we find that the ratio is much closer to 1:1.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Bacteria / cytology
Bacterial Physiological Phenomena*
Body Weight
Cell Count
Colon / microbiology
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Microbiota*
Symbiosis