Multiple new strains of bacteria discovered in the human belly button
July 6, 2011 by Deborah Braconnier
Image: Belly Button Biodiversity
(Medical Xpress) -- New research released this week may find you spending a few extra minutes in the shower scrubbing your belly button. Researchers from the Belly Button Biodiversity project, led by Jiri Hulcr from North Carolina State University, have revealed their first round of DNA results and reveal the discovery of some 1,400 strains of bacteria living inside volunteers belly buttons, and 662 of those are unrecognized strains.
The team of researchers solicited samples from volunteers belly buttons and then took the samples back to the lab to cultivate and analyze the content. They extracted DNA from the bacterial samples and compared it to DNA information that can be found on public databases.
What they discovered was that 40 species account for about 80 percent of all the bacteria found in belly buttons. However, they discovered 662 that are currently unrecognized strains and are believed to be new to science.
Two of the volunteers that provided belly button swabs were New Scientist journalist Peter Aldhous and science writer Carl Zimmer. While Aldhous apparently is an avid belly button scrubber, revealing no bacterial colonies in his navel, Zimmers swab revealed 53 species of bacteria. Zimmer described in his own column how the results showed that out of those 53 species, 35 were found in other participants of the study, but he had 17 different species in his navel that no one else had. One species, Marimonas, has only been seen previously in the ocean, and another, Georginia, has only been found in the soils of Japan.
In looking over the projects website, Belly Button Biodiversity, you can see that the purpose of this project is to raise awareness and interest in microbiology. The idea that our skin is covered in a vast array of life that very little is really known about is the purpose of the project. They chose the belly button as their target skin sample because it is isolated and a great place for microbes to take up residence. They compare this skin exploration to that of the first explorers reaching the sands of a new continent.
While this project was created to help learn and teach about the life found on your skin, the projects initial results are making a real contribution to better understanding microbial diversity.
This round was limited to bacteria, so who knows just what fungi, viruses, or other creatures could be calling your navel home.
© 2010 PhysOrg.com
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
2 comments
-
What would stain as translucent on light-coloured fabric?
18 hours ago
-
How do I identify different bacteria on culture plates?
May 26, 2012
-
Why Do Dogs do Strange things...
May 25, 2012
-
What does exophillic and endophillic mean in terms of mosquito and their control?
May 24, 2012
-
Semen stains glows under black lights (uv light)?
May 23, 2012
-
Question on Human Chromosome 2
May 23, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Biology
More news stories
Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history
(AP) -- Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.
17 hours ago |
3.3 / 5 (17) |
54
More plant species responding to global warming than previously thought
(Phys.org) -- Far more wild plant species may be responding to global warming than previous large-scale estimates have suggested.
May 22, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
18
|
Thousands of shellfish found dead in Peru
Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday.
May 26, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
7
For monogamous sparrows, it doesn't pay to stray (but they do it anyway)
It's quite common for a female song sparrow to stray from her breeding partner and mate with the male next door, but a new study shows that sleeping around can be costly.
May 22, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
7
|
Study uncovers secret to speedy burrowing by razor clams
(Phys.org) -- If you look at a razor burrowing clam sitting in a bucket, youd never guess that it could burrow itself down into the soil, much less do it with any speed. Razor clams look like fat straws, ...
Browser wars flare in mobile space
The browser wars are heating up again, but this time the fight is for dominance of the mobile Internet.
Nvidia trumpets Tegra 3 phone design wins for 2012
(Phys.org) -- Nvidias competitive war paint has a name, Tegra 3. On the heels of Nvidia announcements about lowering costs of its Tegra 3 processors and Nvidia-enabled tablets running Android Ice Cream ...
Dell tablet leak: 10.1-inch display, two-battery choice
(Phys.org) -- Headline after headline talks about vendors tablets in the wings as likely number-one contenders for the iPad. Such claims have justifiably been taken with a grain of salt, considering ...
Keep food safety in mind this memorial day weekend
(HealthDay) -- Picnics, parades and cookouts are as much a part of Memorial Day weekend as tributes to the United States' war veterans.
Social welfare cuts ultimately come with heavy price, researchers say
(Phys.org) -- Slashing government funding for Medicaid, food stamps and other programs that serve the poor while politically popular with some lawmakers and many conservatives may do more harm ...
Is a classical electrodynamics law incompatible with special relativity?
(Phys.org) -- The laws of classical electromagnetism that were developed in the 19th century are the same laws that scientists use today. They include Maxwell’s four equations along with the Lorentz la ...
Jul 06, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (5)
Jul 06, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Jul 06, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)