Skin microbiota and holobiont

The microbiota is composed of a well-balanced population of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms. They interact with each other and with human cells. This interaction between a host organism with its microbiota (a unique ecosystem composed of bacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses, phages, and mites) is called  the holobiont. 

Holobiont is one of the great trends for 2022. The Human Microbiome Project, supported by the National Institutes of Health, started in 2007. In their first publication in 2019, the team announces the identification of about 24 million bacterial in the mouth microbiome and 22 million in the gut microbiome. The team estimated that the total number of genes in the collective human microbiome, composed of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses, could be around 232 million. So actually, we humans are mostly microbes!

The term hologenome was introduced in 2007 to describe the sum of the host genome and associated microbial genomes, in other words, the collective genomes of a holobiont.

To understand the interactions between the human body and its microbiome, it is necessary to consider the ubiquitous nature of host-associated microbes and their central role in host biology, ecology, and health. Therefore, considering the skin, it is no longer a three-layered system. The microbiome is the fourth layer of the skin, and it significantly impacts the homeostasis and health of other layers.

At the skin level, exposome and internal stress generate imbalance of this microbiota/organism collaboration inducing significant damage that affect the skin's appearance and protective function. Imbalance in this ecosystem is associated with:

Click the presentation "The Human Microbiota" (in the top right corner) to review the scientific discoveries that reveal how this ecosystem plays an important role in our metabolic, immune and neurological functions and how it is directly related to our health and wellbeing. Differentiate probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics and other microbiota-control solutions that are available to restore, maintain and protect skin microbiota harmony.

Or discover Sederma's solutions to protect the microbiota harmony from the exposome and internal imbalance using the links below.