The human genome has been referred to as the blueprint of human biology. In this review we consider an essential but largely ignored overlay to that blueprint, the human microbiome, which is composed of those microbes that live in and on our bodies. The human microbiome is a source of genetic diversity, a modifier of disease, an essential component of immunity, and a functional entity that influences metabolism and modulates drug interactions. Characterization and analysis of the human microbiome have been greatly catalyzed by advances in genomic technologies. We discuss how these technologies have shaped this emerging field of study and advanced our understanding of the human microbiome. We also identify future challenges, many of which are common to human genetic studies, and predict that in the future, analyzing genetic variation and risk of human disease will sometimes necessitate the integration of human and microbial genomic data sets.

中文翻译：

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人类微生物组：我们的第二个基因组。

人类基因组被称为人类生物学的蓝图。在这篇综述中，我们考虑了该蓝图的一个重要但在很大程度上被忽视的叠加层，即人类微生物组，它由生活在我们体内和体表的微生物组成。人类微生物组是遗传多样性的来源、疾病的调节剂、免疫力的重要组成部分以及影响新陈代谢和调节药物相互作用的功能实体。基因组技术的进步极大地促进了人类微生物组的表征和分析。我们讨论了这些技术如何塑造了这个新兴的研究领域，并促进了我们对人类微生物组的理解。我们还确定了未来的挑战，其中许多是人类基因研究的共同挑战，并预测在未来，