RESEARCHERS CALL FOR INCREASED EFFORTS TO STUDY AFRICAN MICROBIOMES

A recent study found that microbiome data sets from African ecosystems are vastly underrepresented compared to the global north's.

Kevin Brandt | 28 June 2023 16:13

CAPE TOWN - Scientific researchers have called for increased efforts to sequence and study African microbiomes.

Their study found that microbiome data sets from African ecosystems are vastly underrepresented.

The findings were published in the prestigious peer-reviewed science journal, Nature Reviews Microbiology, recently.

University of Pretoria's Professor Thulani Makhalanyane used the example of the coronavirus and explains that there are billions of other microorganisms that occupy every space on earth.

"So these microorganisms not only include viruses like COVID, but also include bacteria and fungi and other microscopic entities...so a microbiome is basically a term that describes microorganisms that occupy a defined space."

This space could be the human body, soil, water, and plants.

Makhalanyane added that studies on microbiomes have largely focused on the global north.

"If we don't know how African diet may ultimately affect the gut-microbiome and processes that happen in the gut, that means that we lack an understanding for instance on how things like the gut microbes may determine our susceptibility to newer, degenerative disorders."