Whatever the source, the finding that a diverse array of microbes appears first was a surprise.
Farms with the greatest array of microbes, including fungi, appear to be the most protective against asthma.
There is, however, an equally squirm-inducing array of microbes in beach sand, and, depending on beachgoers' habits, the potential for even greater exposure.
Without routine early exposure to a wide array of microbes, the immune system may become jumpy and frightened, overreacting violently to harmless substances like pollen, peanuts or even the body's own cells.
Furthermore, plenty of perfectly healthy people can be infected with candida – it's part of the very normal array of microbes that live in (and on) all of us.
Every human is host to a microorganism community a veritable ecosystem of a diverse array of microbes that outnumber the more than 75 trillion cells of the human body by at least 10 to 1.
The array of microbes shifts through time, with nitrogen-recyclers starting out as dominant, and fungi and nematode worms getting a foothold in later stages of decomposition, the team reports.
The most recent published findings appeared last week in PLOS ONE: Scientists led by Yury Shtarkman, a postdoc at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, identified a startlingly diverse array of microbes in the accretion ice -- the most diverse suggested yet.
The major histocompatibility complex class I-related molecule MR1 is the only antigen (Ag) presenting molecule that captures and displays vitamin B-derived metabolites that are unique to a wide array of microbes.
Bonnie Bassler, of Princeton University, and E. Peter Greenberg, of the University of Washington, Seattle, share the life science and medicine prize for discovering how bacteria communicate with each other, a finding that may lead to interventions to thwart pathogens or promote a healthier array of microbes in our guts.
