There are 380 trillion viruses living in the human body, and their number is ten times that of bacteria. They are found in almost every corner of the human body, and they also have an important impact on the health of the human body and the balance of the microecology.
FEMS Microbiology Reviews, a journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Area I, titled "The role of virome in the gastrointestinal tract and beyond", reviewed and reported the new hotspot of human microecology research—the research progress of human virome.
The human enterovirome consists of a variety of commensal and pathogenic viruses. Colonization by these viruses begins at the very beginning of life and is further deepened through feeding forms such as breastfeeding and wider environmental exposures. During this process, viruses and host bacteria interact continuously, and the flora that shapes the human body also shapes the human body. The richness of eukaryotic viruses in the enterovirome increased with age, while the richness and diversity of phages decreased. Interestingly, the overall changes in the gut virome showed an opposite trend to that of the gut microbiota.
Figure 1 Changes in the populations of bacteria and viruses in the human gut over a lifetime of healthy individuals
At the same time, factors such as diet also have a significant impact on the human virome. Some dietary factors can induce phages and cause dynamic changes in the gut microbiome, affecting the composition of the gut microbiome. Affected by this, the human intestinal virome also presents certain racial or regional characteristics.
It has been reported that the enterovirome is related to a variety of intestinal diseases, including some acute infections and chronic diseases (see the original Tabel 2 for details). Viral infections show different susceptibility differences between children and adults. In addition, some representative virus strains have been identified in different types of chronic diseases. The findings suggest that gut phages are generally not considered direct causative agents of human disease, but instead are major drivers that regulate bacterial communities, creating ecological imbalances that in turn induce disease symptoms. On this basis, some viruses can also be used as biomarkers for dysbiosis-related diseases.
Tabel2 Alterations in Enterovirus and Bacterial Populations in Human Disease
In addition, the interaction between the virus and immune cells triggers a wide range of immune responses affecting different metabolic pathways in the body. In addition to its critical role in regulating the human gut microbiome, the gut virome also directly or indirectly contributes to disease development in distant organs.
Figure 2 Direct interaction between phages and the immune system
图3 硫化氢（H2S）生产途径概述：人结肠细胞内的半胱氨酸分解代谢和硫酸盐还原细菌（SRB）中潜在的噬菌体AMG介导的硫酸盐还原及其对人类健康的影响
现有对人体肠道病毒组的研究仍十分有限，尤其是对噬菌体的研究仍有很大的空白：大多数噬菌体基因组与现有的病毒数据库没有同源性，且不能与宿主进行关联，同时，受限于技术，难以对肠道病毒组组成进行评估，都阻碍了人体病毒组相关研究的开展。
凌恩生物医学宏病毒组项目，为解决宏病毒组研究技术瓶颈，深入解析病毒与人体健康的关系开辟了新的研究思路！
