Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

No microbial community in the blood of healthy individuals

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

From Nature Microbiology

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Previous studies have suggested the presence of a ‘blood microbiome’. Here, we analysed sequencing data generated from the blood of 9,770 healthy individuals and found no evidence for a common blood microbiome in these individuals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Microbial signatures in blood.

References

  1. Castillo, D. J., Rifkin, R. F., Cowan, D. A. & Potgieter, M. The healthy human blood microbiome: fact or fiction? Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 9, 148 (2019). Review of evidence supporting the presence of a blood microbiome.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Shreiner, A. B., Kao, J. Y. & Young, V. B. The gut microbiome in health and in disease. Curr. Opin. Gastroenterol. 31, 69–75 (2015). Review of the links between human health and the gut microbiome.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Wade, W. G. The oral microbiome in health and disease. Pharmacol. Res. 69, 137–143 (2013). Review of the links between human health and the oral microbiome.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Faust, K. & Raes, J. Microbial interactions: from networks to models. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 10, 538–550 (2012). Review of methods to infer interactions in a microbial community.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Tan, C. C. S., Acman, M., van Dorp, L. & Balloux, F. Metagenomic evidence for a polymicrobial signature of sepsis. Microb. Genom. 7, 000642 (2021). Study investigating microbial signatures in sepsis that inspired the current study.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Tan, C. C. S. et al. No evidence for a common blood microbiome based on a population study of 9,770 healthy humans. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01350-w (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

No microbial community in the blood of healthy individuals. Nat Microbiol 8, 769–770 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01364-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01364-4

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation