microbiome

noun mi·cro·bi·ome \ ˌmī-krō-ˈbī-ˌōm \

|Updated on: 22 Jun 2018

Definition of microbiome

1 : a community of microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that inhabit a particular environment and especially the collection of microorganisms living in or on the human body

Your body is home to about 100 trillion bacteria and other microbes, collectively known as your microbiome.
—Carl Zimmer

… what's arguably become the hottest area of medicine: microbiome research, an emerging field that's investigating how the bacteria that live in and on our bodies affect our health.
—Sunny Sea Gold

2 : the collective genomes of microorganisms inhabiting a particular environment and especially the human body

They form one community among the many that make up the human microbiome: the full genetic complement of bacteria and other organisms at home on your skin, gums, and teeth, in your genital tract, and especially in your gut.
—Nathan Wolfe

Recent Examples of microbiome from the Web

Yet all current eczema treatments ignore the microbiome.

— ian myles, CNN, "A possible new weapon against eczema: live bacteria," 17 May 2018
With evidence mounting that excessive antibiotic use can lead to drug-resistance and changes in the microbiome, the study provides another reason to be cautious of over-prescribing.

— jamie ducharme, Time, "Here's Another Reason to Avoid Taking Unnecessary Antibiotics," 12 May 2018
The lead author, Dr. Gregory E. Tasian, a urologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the mechanism is unclear, but that the most likely explanation is a complex interaction of the drugs with the urinary or gut microbiome.

— nicholas bakalar, New York Times, "Antibiotics May Raise the Risk for Kidney Stones," 10 May 2018
Now 25, Zhao has launched a biomedical start-up focused on microbiome research and chose to locate it in Beijing over anywhere else in the world.

— author: ben guarino, emily rauhala, william wan, Anchorage Daily News, "China challenges American dominance of science," 4 June 2018
Investigators have made leaps forward in HIV vaccine development, microbiome and circadian rhythm research, immunotherapy, and the genome editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas9, among other fields.

— jonathan saltzman, BostonGlobe.com, "Six local biomed researchers awarded $8 million apiece, with no strings attached," 22 May 2018
Researchers found drinking alcohol, especially heavy drinking, could negatively influence the oral microbiome composition (translation: the bacteria in your mouth).

— ashley may, USA TODAY, "People who drink alcohol have dirty mouths crawling with bad bacteria, study suggests," 25 Apr. 2018
In recent years scientists have realized just how much our microbiome (the bacterial communities inside our body) influences our health, for better or for worse.

— rebecca albright, Scientific American, "Scientists Are Taking Extreme Steps to Help Corals Survive," 1 Jan. 2018
Keep your skin’s microbiome in balance with the anti-microbial and anti-bacterial, antiseptic, and detoxifying essential oils tea tree, pine, balsam fir, and silver fir.

— allison young, Good Housekeeping, "6 Ways You Can Use Essential Oils To Treat And Prevent Acne Naturally," 8 Nov. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'microbiome.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of microbiome

micro- + biome

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1952

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Medical Dictionary

microbiome

noun mi·cro·bi·ome \ ˌmī-krō-ˈbī-ˌōm \

medical Definition of microbiome

1 : a community of microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that inhabit a particular environment and especially the collection of microorganisms living in or on the human body

The intestinal microbiome consists of the microorganisms that inhabit the gut.
—Clara Abraham et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 19 Nov. 2009

Collectively known as the microbiome, this community may play a role in regulating one's risk of obesity, asthma and allergies.
—Carrie Arnold, Scientific American, March 2012

The human oral microbiome comprises all microbial species in the oral cavity.
—Naomi P. O'Grady, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 20 June 2012

2 : the collective genomes of microorganisms inhabiting a particular environment and especially the human body

As part of a new citizen-science initiative called the American Gut project, the lab sequenced my microbiome—that is, the genes not of “me,” exactly, but of the several hundred microbial species with whom I share this body.
—Michael Pollan, The New York Times, 19 May 2013

Together, the genomes of these microbial symbionts (collectively defined as the microbiome) provide traits that humans did not need to evolve on their own.
—Peter J. Turnbaugh et al., Nature, 18 Oct. 2007