Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are

Translator: Alberte Regueira López Reviewer: Serv. de Norm. Lingüística U. de Santiago de Compostela

We humans have always been very concerned about the health of our bodies,

Os humanos sempre estivemos preocupados pola saúde dos nosos corpos

but we haven't always been that good at figuring out what's important.

pero non sempre fomos tan bos á hora de decatármonos do que é importante.

Take the ancient Egyptians, for example:

Vexamos os antigos exipcios, por exemplo.

very concerned about the body parts they thought they'd need in the afterlife,

Moi preocupados polas partes do corpo que pensaban que necesitarían no máis alá

but they left some parts out.

pero deixaban de lado algunhas partes.

This part, for example.

Esta parte, por exemplo.

Although they very carefully preserved the stomach, the lungs,

Se ben conservaban con esmero

o estómago, os pulmóns,

the liver, and so forth,

o fígado, etc.,

they just mushed up the brain, drained it out through the nose,

simplemente facían puré o cerebro, sacábano polo nariz

and threw it away,

e tirábano,

which makes sense, really,

o que en realidade ten sentido,

because what does a brain do for us anyway?

pois que fai o cerebro por nós á fin e ao cabo?

But imagine if there were a kind of neglected organ in our bodies

Pero imaxinade que houbese unha especie de órgano esquecido no noso corpo,

that weighed just as much as the brain

que pesase tanto coma o cerebro

and in some ways was just as important to who we are,

e que dalgún xeito fose tan importante para sermos quen somos

but we knew so little about and treated with such disregard.

pero do que soubésemos tan pouco e que tratásemos sen consideración ningunha.

And imagine if, through new scientific advances,

Imaxinade que, mediante novos avances científicos,

we were just beginning to understand

estivésemos tan só comezando a entender

its importance to how we think of ourselves.

a súa importancia no que consideramos que somos.

Wouldn't you want to know more about it?

Non vos gustaría saber máis?

Well, it turns out that we do have something just like that:

Ben, pois resulta que si que temos algo xustamente así:

our gut,

os nosos intestinos,

or rather, its microbes.

ou mellor dito, os seus microbios.

But it's not just the microbes in our gut that are important.

Pero non só son importantes os microbios dos intestinos.

Microbes all over our body

Os microbios de todo o noso corpo

turn out to be really critical to a whole range of differences

resultan ser moi importantes para unha chea de diferenzas

that make different people who we are.

que nos fan distintos entre nós.

So for example, have you ever noticed

Por exemplo, decatástesvos de que

how some people get bitten by mosquitos way more often than others?

a algunha xente a pican os mosquitos moito máis que a outra?

It turns out that everyone's anecdotal experience out camping is actually true.

Parece que as anécdotas de acampada son certas despois de todo.

For example, I seldom get bitten by mosquitos,

Por exemplo, a min rara vez me pican os mosquitos,

but my partner Amanda attracts them in droves,

pero a miña parella Amanda atráeos a moreas.

and the reason why is that we have different microbes on our skin

O motivo é que temos diferentes microbios na pel

that produce different chemicals that the mosquitos detect.

que producen compostos químicos diferentes que os mosquitos detectan.

Now, microbes are also really important in the field of medicine.

Os microbios tamén son moi importantes no eido da medicina.

So, for example, what microbes you have in your gut

Por exemplo, os microbios que teñas nos intestinos

determine whether particular painkillers are toxic to your liver.

determinan se algúns analxésicos son tóxicos para o teu fígado.

They also determine whether or not other drugs will work for your heart condition.

Tamén se outras menciñas van ser eficaces para os teus problemas cardíacos.

And, if you're a fruit fly, at least,

E, de seres unha mosca da froita,

your microbes determine who you want to have sex with.

os teus microbios ata determinan con quen queres deitarte.

We haven't demonstrated this in humans yet

Aínda non demostramos isto nos humanos

but maybe it's just a matter of time before we find out. (Laughter)

pero ao mellor descubrírmolo é só cuestión de tempo.

(Risas)

So microbes are performing a huge range of functions.

Os microbios teñen un enorme abano de funcións.

They help us digest our food.

Axúdannos a dixerir a comida.

They help educate our immune system.

Axúdannos a educar o noso sistema inmune.

They help us resist disease,

Axúdannos a resistir enfermidades,

and they may even be affecting our behavior.

e até poden afectar ao noso comportamento.

So what would a map of all these microbial communities look like?

Como sería un mapa de todas estas comunidades microbianas?

Ben, non sería exactamente así,

Well, it wouldn't look exactly like this,

but it's a helpful guide for understanding biodiversity.

pero é unha guía útil para entendermos a biodiversidade.

Different parts of the world have different landscapes of organisms

As diferentes partes do mundo teñen distintas paisaxes de organismos

que caracterizan de inmediato un lugar ou outro

that are immediately characteristic of one place or another

or another.

ou outro.

With microbiology, it's kind of the same, although I've got to be honest with you:

Na microbioloxía, é algo semellante, pero vouvos ser sincero:

All the microbes essentially look the same under a microscope.

Todos os microbios parecen basicamente iguais baixo un microscopio.

So instead of trying to identify them visually,

Por iso, en vez de intentar identificalos visualmente,

what we do is we look at their DNA sequences,

o que se fai é analizar as súas secuencias de ADN.

and in a project called the Human Microbiome Project,

Nun proxecto chamado o Proxecto do Microbioma Humano,

NIH funded this $173 million project

financiado con 173 millóns de dólares polo NIH

where hundreds of researchers came together

no cal centos de investigadores se xuntaron

to map out all the A's, T's, G's, and C's,

para facer un mapa de todos os As, Tes, Gues e Ces

e todos os microbios do corpo humano.

and all of these microbes in the human body.

So when we take them together, they look like this.

Cando os poñemos todos xuntos teñen este aspecto.

It's a bit more difficult to tell who lives where now, isn't it?

Agora é un chisco máis complicado dicir onde vive cada un, non si?

What my lab does is develop computational techniques that allow us

O que fai o meu laboratorio é desenvolver técnicas informáticas que permiten

to take all these terabytes of sequence data

coller todos estes terabytes de datos de secuencias

and turn them into something that's a bit more useful as a map,

e convertelos en algo un pouco máis útil como mapa.

and so when we do that with the human microbiome data

Cando facemos isto con datos do microbioma humano,

from 250 healthy volunteers,

de 250 voluntarios sans,

it looks like this.

o aspecto que ten é este.

Each point here represents all the complex microbes

Cada un dos puntos representa os microbios complexos

in an entire microbial community.

dunha comunidade bacteriana ao completo.

See, I told you they basically all look the same.

Vedes? Díxenvos que basicamente parecen todos iguais.

So what we're looking at is each point represents one microbial community

Cada punto que vemos representa unha comunidade de microbios

from one body site of one healthy volunteer.

dun lugar do corpo dun voluntario con boa saúde.

And so you can see that there's different parts of the map in different colors,

Pódese ver que hai diferentes partes do mapa con diferentes cores,

case coma continentes separados.

almost like separate continents.

And what it turns out to be

O que pasa

is that those, as the different regions of the body,

é que ao ser diferentes partes do corpo

have very different microbes in them.

teñen microbios moi diferentes.

So what we have is we have the oral community up there in green.

Aquí arriba, en verde, está a comunidade oral.

Over on the other side, we have the skin community in blue,

Arriba na outra marxe, en azul, está a comunidade da pel,

the vaginal community in purple,

a comunidade vaxinal en violeta,

and then right down at the bottom, we have the fecal community in brown.

e logo abaixo de todo temos a comunidade fecal en marrón.

And we've just over the last few years

No transcurso dos últimos anos descubrimos

found out that the microbes in different parts of the body

que os microbios de distintas partes do corpo

son asombrosamente diferentes uns dos outros.

are amazingly different from one another.

So if I look at just one person's microbes

Se miro os microbios dunha soa persoa

in the mouth and in the gut,

na boca e nos intestinos,

it turns out that the difference between those two microbial communities

resulta que a diferenza entre estas dúas comunidades microbianas

is enormous.

é xigantesca.

É maior que a diferenza entre os microbios deste arrecife

It's bigger than the difference between the microbes in this reef

and the microbes in this prairie.

e os microbios desta pradeira.

So this is incredible when you think about it.

Se o pensades, isto é incrible.

What it means is that a few feet of difference in the human body

Significa que un metro de distancia no corpo humano

makes more of a difference to your microbial ecology

ten máis impacto na nosa ecoloxía microbiana

than hundreds of miles on Earth.

que centos de quilómetros para a da Terra.

And this is not to say that two people look basically the same

Isto tampouco quere dicir que dúas persoas sexan case iguais

in the same body habitat, either.

no mesmo hábitat corporal.

So you probably heard

É probable que escoitásedes

that we're pretty much all the same in terms of our human DNA.

que somos máis ou menos iguais en termos do noso ADN humano.

You're 99.99 percent identical in terms of your human DNA

Somos 99,99 % idénticos en termos de ADN humano

to the person sitting next to you.

á persoa que temos ao lado.

But that's not true of your gut microbes:

Pero iso non é certo para os microbios intestinais.

you might only share 10 percent similarity

Pode que só compartamos un 10% de similitude

with the person sitting next to you in terms of your gut microbes.

coa persoa que temos ao lado, en canto aos microbios intestinais.

So that's as different as the bacteria on this prairie

Iso é igual á diferenza que hai entre as bacterias desta pradeira

and the bacteria in this forest.

e as bacterias deste bosque.

So these different microbes

Estes diferentes microbios

have all these different kinds of functions that I told you about,

teñen todos estes tipos de funcións que vos contei,

dende dixerir comida

everything from digesting food

to involvement in different kinds of diseases,

a participar en diferentes tipos de enfermidades,

metabolizing drugs, and so forth.

metabolizar medicamentos, etc.

So how do they do all this stuff?

Pero como fan todas estas cousas?

Well, in part it's because

En parte é debido a que,

although there's just three pounds of those microbes in our gut,

aínda tendo pouco máis de 1,5 kg, destes microbios nos intestinos,

they really outnumber us.

en realidade supérannos en número.

And so how much do they outnumber us?

E en canto nos superan?

Well, it depends on what you think of as our bodies.

Iso depende do que consideremos que é o noso corpo.

Is it our cells?

Fórmano as células?

Well, each of us consists of about 10 trillion human cells,

Cada un de nós ten aproximadamente 10 billóns de células humanas

but we harbor as many as 100 trillion microbial cells.

pero albergamos ata 100 billóns de células microbianas.

So they outnumber us 10 to one.

Son 10 veces máis ca nós.

Now, you might think, well, we're human because of our DNA,

Poderiamos pensar que somos humanos polo noso ADN,

but it turns out that each of us has about 20,000 human genes,

pero resulta que cada un de nós ten sobre uns 20.000 xenes humanos,

depending on what you count exactly,

dependendo do que se conte exactamente,

but as many as two million to 20 million microbial genes.

pero entre 2 e 20 millóns de xenes microbianos.

So whichever way we look at it, we're vastly outnumbered

Así que mírese como se mire, estamos amplamente superados

by our microbial symbionts.

polos nosos simbiontes microbianos.

And it turns out that in addition to traces of our human DNA,

Resulta que ademais de deixar rastros de ADN humano,

tamén deixamos rastros do noso ADN microbiano

we also leave traces of our microbial DNA

on everything we touch.

en todo aquilo que tocamos.

Demostramos nun estudo hai uns anos

We showed in a study a few years ago

that you can actually match the palm of someone's hand up

que realmente se pode emparellar a palma da man dunha persoa

to the computer mouse that they use routinely

co rato do ordenador que usa habitualmente

with up to 95 percent accuracy.

con ata un 95% de precisión.

So this came out in a scientific journal a few years ago,

Isto apareceu nunha revista científica hai uns anos,

pero aínda máis importante, apareceu en CSI: Miami,

but more importantly, it was featured on "CSI: Miami,"

so you really know it's true.

así que sabedes de verdade que é certo.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

So where do our microbes come from in the first place?

En primeiro lugar, de onde veñen os microbios que temos?

Well if, as I do, you have dogs or kids,

Se, coma min, tedes cans ou nenos,

é probable que teñades algunha sospeita ao respecto,

you probably have some dark suspicions about that,

all of which are true, by the way.

e todas son correctas, por certo.

So just like we can match you to your computer equipment

Igual que podemos emparellarte co equipamento do teu ordenador

by the microbes you share,

polos microbios compartidos,

we can also match you up to your dog.

tamén te podemos emparellar co teu can.

But it turns out that in adults,

O que sucede é que en adultos

as comunidades microbianas son relativamente estables,

microbial communities are relatively stable,

so even if you live together with someone,

así que aínda que vivas con alguén,

you'll maintain your separate microbial identity

vas manter a túa identidade microbiana

over a period of weeks, months, even years.

por un período de semanas, meses, incluso anos.

It turns out that our first microbial communities

Resulta que as nosas primeiras comunidades microbianas

depend a lot on how we're born.

dependen en boa medida do xeito en que nacemos.

So babies that come out the regular way,

Os bebés que nacen de parto natural

all of their microbes are basically like the vaginal community,

basicamente teñen microbios coma os da comunidade vaxinal,

whereas babies that are delivered by C-section,

mentres que os bebés nacidos por cesárea

all of their microbes instead look like skin.

teñen, pola contra, microbios moi semellantes aos da pel.

And this might be associated with some of the differences

Isto pode asociarse con algunhas das diferenzas

in health associated with Cesarean birth,

na saúde asociadas ás cesáreas

such as more asthma, more allergies, even more obesity,

como máis asma, máis alerxias ou incluso ata máis obesidade,

all of which have been linked to microbes now,

todas asociadas agora a microbios.

and when you think about it, until recently, every surviving mammal

Se o pensas, ata hai pouco, todos os mamíferos vivos

had been delivered by the birth canal,

naceron de parto natural,

and so the lack of those protective microbes

así que a falta destes microbios protectores

that we've co-evolved with might be really important

que evolucionaron connosco pode ser realmente importante

for a lot of these different conditions that we now know involve the microbiome.

para unha chea de enfermidades que agora sabemos que se relacionan co microbioma.

When my own daughter was born a couple of years ago

Cando a miña propia filla naceu hai un par de anos

by emergency C-section,

por cesárea de emerxencia,

we took matters into our own hands

tomamos cartas no asunto

and made sure she was coated with those vaginal microbes

e asegurámonos de que se cubrise cos microbios vaxinais

that she would have gotten naturally.

que debería adquirir de forma natural.

Now, it's really difficult to tell whether this has had an effect

Pero é moi difícil dicir se tivo algún efecto

on her health specifically, right?

na súa saúde, non?

With a sample size of just one child, no matter how much we love her,

Unha mostra de tan só unha cativa, por moito que a queiramos,

you don't really have enough of a sample size

non é grande abondo

to figure out what happens on average,

para saber que acontece como media,

but at two years old, she hasn't had an ear infection yet,

pero con dous anos, aínda non tivo ningunha infección de oído,

so we're keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

así que seguimos cruzando os dedos.

And what's more, we're starting to do clinical trials with more children

Ademais, estamos comezando ensaios clínicos con máis nenos

to figure out whether this has a protective effect generally.

para determinar se isto ten un efecto protector xeral.

So how we're born has a tremendous effect on what microbes we have initially,

O modo de nacer ten un tremendo efecto nos microbios que temos inicialmente

but where do we go after that?

pero, que acontece despois?

What I'm showing you again here is this map

O que aquí vos mostro outra vez é un mapa

of the Human Microbiome Project Data,

dos datos do Proxecto do Microbioma Humano,

so each point represents a sample from one body site

no que cada punto representa unha mostra dun sitio do corpo

from one of 250 healthy adults.

dun dos 250 adultos sans.

And you've seen children develop physically.

Vimos nenos desenvolverse fisicamente.

You've seen them develop mentally.

Vímolos desenvolverse mentalmente.

Now, for the first time, you're going to see

E agora, por primeira vez,

imos ver os fillos dun compañeiro meu desenvolverse microbianamente.

one of my colleague's children develop microbially.

So what we are going to look at

O que estamos a piques de ver

is we're going to look at this one baby's stool,

son as feces dun bebé,

the fecal community, which represents the gut,

a súa comunidade fecal, que representa os intestinos,

sampled every week for almost two and a half years.

recollida cada semana durante case dous anos e medio.

And so we're starting on day one.

Imos comezar no día un.

What's going to happen is that the infant is going to start off as this yellow dot,

O neno vai empezar neste punto amarelo,

and you can see that he's starting off basically in the vaginal community,

podedes ver que está comezando basicamente na comunidade vaxinal,

as we would expect from his delivery mode.

como é de esperar dado o seu parto.

And what's going to happen over these two and a half years

O que acontece durante estes dous anos e medio

é que se vai trasladando cara a abaixo

is that he's going to travel all the way down

até asemellarse á comunidade fecal adulta de voluntarios sans, aquí abaixo.

to resemble the adult fecal community from healthy volunteers down at the bottom.

So I'm just going to start this going and we'll see how that happens.

Vouno iniciar e poderedes ver como sucede isto.

What you can see, and remember each step in this is just one week,

Como vedes, e recordade que cada paso é só unha semana,

what you can see is that week to week,

semana tras semana,

the change in the microbial community of the feces of this one child,

o cambio na comunidade microbiana das feces deste neno,

the differences week to week are much greater

as diferenzas, semana a semana, son moito maiores

cás diferenzas entre adultos sans

than the differences between individual healthy adults

in the Human Microbiome Project cohort,

na poboación do Proxecto do Microbioma Humano,

which are those brown dots down at the bottom.

que son os puntos marróns abaixo de todo.

And you can see he's starting to approach the adult fecal community.

Podedes ver que comeza a achegarse á comunidade fecal adulta.

Isto representa arredor de dous anos.

This is up to about two years.

But something amazing is about to happen here.

Pero algo sorprendente está por ocorrer aquí.

So he's getting antibiotics for an ear infection.

Está tomando antibióticos para unha infección de oído.

What you can see is this huge change in the community,

O que vedes é unha alteración enorme na comunidade,

followed by a relatively rapid recovery.

seguida dunha recuperación relativamente rápida.

I'll just rewind that for you.

Vouno rebobinar para que o vexades mellor.

And what we can see is that just over these few weeks,

O que vemos é que nestas poucas semanas

we have a much more radical change,

hai un cambio moito máis radical,

a setback of many months of normal development,

unha recuada de varios meses no desenvolvemento normal,

followed by a relatively rapid recovery,

seguida dunha recuperación relativamente rápida,

and by the time he reaches day 838,

e no tempo que chega ao día 838,

which is the end of this video,

o remate deste vídeo,

you can see that he has essentially reached the healthy adult stool community,

vedes que alcanzou a comunidade fecal dun adulto san,

a pesar da intervención dos antibióticos.

despite that antibiotic intervention.

So this is really interesting because it raises fundamental questions

Isto é realmente interesante, xa que suscita preguntas vitais

about what happens when we intervene at different ages in a child's life.

sobre que acontece cando intervimos na vida dun neno a diferentes idades.

So does what we do early on, where the microbiome is changing so rapidly,

Realmente importa o que fagamos

nas primeiras etapas, cando o microbioma cambia tan rápido,

actually matter,

or is it like throwing a stone into a stormy sea,

ou é como tirar unha pedra ao mar revolto,

where the ripples will just be lost?

onde non podemos ver as ondas que produce?

Well, fascinatingly, it turns out that if you give children antibiotics

Pois, dun xeito fascinante, resulta que se lles damos antibióticos aos nenos,

in the first six months of life,

nos primeiros seis meses de vida

they're more likely to become obese later on

teñen maiores probabilidades de padecer obesidade no futuro

than if they don't get antibiotics then or only get them later,

que se non toman antibióticos daquela ou se os toman máis adiante,

and so what we do early on may have profound impacts

polo que o que fagamos nestas primeiras etapas pode ter un efecto

on the gut microbial community and on later health

na comunidade microbiana dos intestinos e na saúde posterior

that we're only beginning to understand.

que aínda estamos empezando a entender.

So this is fascinating, because one day, in addition to the effects

Isto é fascinante, porque a maiores dos efectos que os antibióticos teñen

that antibiotics have on antibiotic-resistant bacteria,

sobre as bacterias que son capaces de resistilos,

which are very important,

que son moi importantes,

poden estar tamén a degradar os ecosistemas microbianos dos intestinos

they may also be degrading our gut microbial ecosystems,

and so one day we may come to regard antibiotics with the same horror

e pode ser que un día miremos os antibióticos co mesmo pánico

that we currently reserve for those metal tools

que agora reservamos para as ferramentas de metal

that the Egyptians used to use to mush up the brains

que os exipcios empregaban para facer puré os cerebros,

before they drained them out for embalming.

antes de sacalos para embalsamar.

So I mentioned that microbes have all these important functions,

Mencionei que os microbios teñen todas estas funcións importantes

and they've also now, just over the past few years,

e que, nos últimos anos,

been connected to a whole range of different diseases,

están sendo relacionados cun amplo rango de enfermidades,

including inflammatory bowel disease,

incluída a enfermidade inflamatoria intestinal,

heart disease, colon cancer,

enfermidades cardíacas, cancro de colon,

and even obesity.

e ata coa obesidade.

Obesity has a really large effect, as it turns out,

Sobre a obesidade teñen un grande efecto, segundo semella,

and today, we can tell whether you're lean or obese

e hoxe podemos afirmar se alguén é delgado ou obeso

with 90 percent accuracy

cunha precisión do 90 %

by looking at the microbes in your gut.

analizando os microbios do intestino.

Now, although that might sound impressive,

Aínda que isto pareza impresionante,

in some ways it's a little bit problematic as a medical test,

en certo modo, como proba médica é un chisco problemática,

because you can probably tell which of these people is obese

xa que probablemente se pode dicir quen destas persoas é obesa

without knowing anything about their gut microbes,

sen saber nada sobre os seus microbios intestinais.

but it turns out that even if we sequence their complete genomes

Pero resulta que aínda secuenciando o seu xenoma completo

and had all their human DNA,

e tendo o seu ADN humano,

we could only predict which one was obese with about 60 percent accuracy.

só poderíamos predicir quen é obeso cunha precisión de aproximadamente o 60%.

So that's amazing, right?

É abraiante, non é?

What it means that the three pounds of microbes that you carry around with you

Isto significa que o 1,5 kg de microbios que levamos connosco

pode ter máis importancia para algunhas enfermidades

may be more important for some health conditions

than every single gene in your genome.

que calquera xene no noso xenoma.

And then in mice, we can do a lot more.

Con ratos, podemos facer moitas máis cousas.

So in mice, microbes have been linked to all kinds of additional conditions,

Nos ratos, os microbios relacionáronse con moitas outras enfermidades,

including things like multiple sclerosis,

como a esclerose múltiple,

depression, autism, and again, obesity.

a depresión, o autismo e, de novo, a obesidade.

But how can we tell whether these microbial differences

Pero, como podemos saber se estas diferenzas microbianas

that correlate with disease are cause or effect?

relacionadas coas enfermidades son a causa ou o efecto?

Well, one thing we can do is we can raise some mice

Unha cousa que podemos facer é criar algúns ratos

sen ningún microbio de seu nunha burbulla libre de xermes.

without any microbes of their own in a germ-free bubble.

Then we can add in some microbes that we think are important,

Logo podemos engadir algúns microbios que consideremos importantes,

and see what happens.

e ver que pasa.

When we take the microbes from an obese mouse

Cando collemos os microbios dun rato obeso

and transplant them into a genetically normal mouse

e llos transplantamos a un rato xeneticamente normal,

that's been raised in a bubble with no microbes of its own,

criado nunha burbulla, sen microbios propios,

it becomes fatter than if it got them from a regular mouse.

engorda máis que se os recibira dun rato normal.

Why this happens is absolutely amazing, though.

Aínda que a razón pola que isto pasa é sorprendente.

Sometimes what's going on is that the microbes

Ás veces, o que pasa é que os microbios

are helping them digest food more efficiently from the same diet,

lles axudan a dixerir a mesma comida cunha maior eficiencia

so they're taking more energy from their food,

e obteñen así máis enerxía da mesma alimentación,

but other times, the microbes are actually affecting their behavior.

pero noutras ocasións, os microbios modifican o seu comportamento.

What they're doing is they're eating more than the normal mouse,

Comen máis do que o faría un rato normal

so they only get fat if we let them eat as much as they want.

así que só engordan se os deixamos comer tanto como queren.

So this is really remarkable, right?

Isto é algo extraordinario, verdade?

The implication is that microbes can affect mammalian behavior.

A conclusión é que os microbios poden modificar o comportamento dos mamíferos.

So you might be wondering whether we can also do this sort of thing across species,

Estarédesvos preguntando se se poden facer estas cousas noutras especies.

and it turns out that if you take microbes from an obese person

De collermos microbios dunha persoa obesa

and transplant them into mice you've raised germ-free,

e transplantármolos en ratos que foron criados sen xermes,

those mice will also become fatter

eses ratos acabarán tamén por engordar máis

than if they received the microbes from a lean person,

que se recibisen os microbios dunha persoa delgada.

but we can design a microbial community that we inoculate them with

Pero podemos deseñar a comunidade microbiana coa que inoculalos

that prevents them from gaining this weight.

para evitar que engorden.

We can also do this for malnutrition.

Isto tamén se pode facer para a desnutrición.

So in a project funded by the Gates Foundation,

Nun proxecto financiado pola Fundación Gates,

what we're looking at is children in Malawi

estamos estudando a nenos de Malawi

who have kwashiorkor, a profound form of malnutrition,

que padecen kwashiorkor, unha forma grave de desnutrición.

and mice that get the kwashiorkor community transplanted into them

Os ratos aos que se lles transplanta a comunidade do kwashiorkor

lose 30 percent of their body mass

perden o 30% da súa masa corporal

en tan só tres semanas,

in just three weeks,

but we can restore their health by using the same peanut butter-based supplement

pero podemos curalos usando o mesmo suplemento a base de manteiga de cacahuete

that is used for the children in the clinic,

que se emprega cos nenos na clínica.

and the mice that receive the community

Os ratos que reciben a comunidade

from the healthy identical twins of the kwashiorkor children do fine.

do xemelgo san dos nenos con kwashiorkor non teñen ningún problema.

This is truly amazing because it suggests that we can pilot therapies

Isto é realmente asombroso porque suxire que podemos ensaiar distintas terapias

by trying them out in a whole bunch of different mice

probándoas nunha morea de ratos

con comunidades intestinais dunha persoa en concreto

with individual people's gut communities

and perhaps tailor those therapies all the way down to the individual level.

e talvez adaptar estas terapias á medida de cada persoa.

So I think it's really important that everyone has a chance

Penso que é moi importante que todo o mundo teña a oportunidade

to participate in this discovery.

de participar neste descubrimento.

So, a couple of years ago,

Hai un par de anos comezamos un proxecto

we started this project called American Gut,

chamado Intestinos Americanos,

which allows you to claim a place for yourself on this microbial map.

que permite que calquera reclame para si un lugar neste mapa microbiano.

This is now the largest crowd-funded science project that we know of --

É o proxecto con financiación colectiva máis grande que se coñece.

over 8,000 people have signed up at this point.

De momento, xa se incribiron máis de 8.000 persoas.

What happens is, they send in their samples,

Funciona do seguinte xeito. A xente mándanos mostras,

we sequence the DNA of their microbes and then release the results back to them.

nós secuenciamos o ADN dos seus microbios e entregámoslles os resultados.

We also release them, de-identified, to scientists, to educators,

Tamén enviamos eses datos, anonimamente, a científicos, docentes,

to interested members of the general public, and so forth,

membros interesados do público xeral, etc.,

so anyone can have access to the data.

para que todos poidan ter acceso aos datos.

On the other hand,

Por outro lado, cando lles ensinamos o noso laboratorio ás visitas

when we do tours of our lab at the BioFrontiers Institute,

no Instituto BioFrontiers,

and we explain that we use robots and lasers to look at poop,

e lles explicamos que usamos robots e láseres para analizar feces

it turns out that not everyone wants to know.

non todo o mundo quere saber os detalles.

(Risas)

(Laughter)

But I'm guessing that many of you do,

Pero supoño que moitos de vós si que queredes,

and so I brought some kits here if you're interested

así que trouxen uns cantos kits por se estades interesados

in trying this out for yourself.

en probar isto en vós mesmos.

So why might we want to do this?

Pero para que iades querer facer isto?

Well, it turns out that microbes are not just important

Os microbios non só son importantes

for finding out where we are in terms of our health,

para saber como estamos de saúde

but they can actually cure disease.

senón que tamén poden curar enfermidades.

This is one of the newest things we've been able to visualize

Isto é unha das cousas máis recentes que descubrimos

with colleagues at the University of Minnesota.

xunto a compañeiros da Univerisdade de Minnesota.

So here's that map of the human microbiome again.

Aquí está de novo o mapa do microbioma humano

What we're looking at now --

O que imos ver agora,

I'm going to add in the community of some people with C. diff.

vou engadir á comunidade algunhas persoas con Clostridium difficile,

So, this is a terrible form of diarrhea

Este é un tipo horrible de diarrea

where you have to go up to 20 times a day,

coa que tes que ir ao baño ata 20 veces por día.

and these people have failed antibiotic therapy for two years

Esta xente recibiu un tratamento con antibióticos durante dous anos

before they're eligible for this trial.

sen mellorar para seren elixibles para o ensaio.

So what would happen if we transplanted some of the stool from a healthy donor,

Que pasaría se se lles transplantase parte dos microbios fecais dun doador san,

that star down at the bottom,

esta estreliña na parte inferior,

into these patients.

a estes pacientes?

Would the good microbes do battle with the bad microbes

Loitarían os microbios bos contra os microbios malos

and help to restore their health?

axudándolles aos pacientes a recuperarse?

So let's watch exactly what happens there.

Ímoslle botar un ollo ao que pasa aquí.

Four of those patients are about to get a transplant

Catro deles están a piques de recibir un transplante

from that healthy donor at the bottom,

deste doador san de aquí abaixo,

e o que podedes ver, deseguida,

and what you can see is that immediately,

you have this radical change in the gut community.

é un cambio radical na comunidade intestinal.

So one day after you do that transplant,

Un día despois do transplante

all those symptoms clear up,

todos os síntomas melloran,

the diarrhea vanishes,

a diarrea desaparece

and they're essentially healthy again, coming to resemble the donor's community,

e basicamente están de novo sans, con comunidades semellantes ás do doador,

and they stay there.

que fican aí.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

So we're just at the beginning of this discovery.

Estamos aínda no comezo deste descubrimento.

We're just finding out that microbes have implications

Estamos empezando a saber que os microbios interveñen

for all these different kinds of diseases,

en todas estas diferentes enfermidades,

ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to obesity,

dende a enfermidade inflamatoria intestinal á obesidade

and perhaps even autism and depression.

e quizais incluso no autismo e a depresión.

What we need to do, though,

Porén, o que fai falla

is we need to develop a kind of microbial GPS,

é desenvolver unha especie de GPS dos microbios,

where we don't just know where we are currently

co que non só saibamos onde estamos

but also where we want to go and what we need to do

senón tamén cara a onde queremos ir e que cómpre facer

in order to get there,

para chegarmos alí,

and we need to be able to make this simple enough

e temos que ser capaces de facelo abondo sinxelo

that even a child can use it. (Laughter)

para que incluso un neno o poida usar. (Risas)

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Aplausos)

(Applause)