Science is full of specific terms for each area. This is one reason why it is so difficult to understand.
I used to call science communication to the lay public (or to other science areas) "scientific content translation. A way to explain scientific concepts, considering the target audience while taking care to transmit the information with a human touch. Depending on the context, why not a funny text?
After all, teaching science to a client or student could be more pleasant. Even if they follow the rigorous criteria of science.
Today, I show you an example of two words often misused. Although they are related and have similar spelling, they carry different meanings.
Now, learn the difference between microbiota and microbiome!
Microbiota and microbiome
Our knowledge regarding microbiota and microbiome studies arises mainly because of the improvement of molecular methods. Many services and products emerged to reestablish the balance of microorganisms that inhabit our bodies. Diets, probiotics, cosmetics, etc.
Then arises the difficulty of explaining the science behind this. How do you convince a patient to use a probiotic?
Microbiota and microbiome. Indeed, you have heard these terms. Do you know the difference between them? Although they are related, they have different meanings. A way to understand is to link these terms to what you already know, like the ecology terms ecology, biota, and biome.
Habitat is a term used to refer to a place inhabited by an organism, isn't it? One habit of the desert fox, a little fox with big ears, is the Sahara desert.
A broader term is "biome. A biome is a geographic unit with specific characteristics defined by climate, vegetation type, soil type, altitude, etc.
To the desert fox, the corresponding biome is the desert, which one characterizes as having low rainfall, a high-temperature range, scarce and sparsely distributed vegetation of shrubs and grasses, and arid and rocky soil.
Extrapolating these terms to the microbial world, it is possible to say that microbiota corresponds to the microorganisms existent in a place that could be a plant, water, or a host.
The gut microbiota is composed mainly of bacteria and archaea. The microbiome refers to all the microbial communities in that place, considering all the associated factors*.
The microbiome concept is more comprehensive and includes the microbiota concept. There is an interdependency between the two terms. There is no microbiota without a microbiome.
*There is no agreement between researchers about the term "microbiome". Some consider only genomic aspects, considering the microbiome like a genomic pool in a particular environment. On the other hand, broader definitions exist that consider ecological elements and, therefore, all environmental conditions.
Another one defines the microbiome in terms of host interactions.
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