close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Aug;30(8):1505-1513.
doi: 10.3201/eid3008.240181.

Archaea in the Human Microbiome and Potential Effects on Human Infectious Disease

Review

Archaea in the Human Microbiome and Potential Effects on Human Infectious Disease

Stefanie Duller et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Archaea represent a separate domain of life, next to bacteria and eukarya. As components of the human microbiome, archaea have been associated with various diseases, including periodontitis, endodontic infections, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and urogenital tract infections. Archaea are generally considered nonpathogenic; the reasons are speculative because of limited knowledge and gene annotation challenges. Nevertheless, archaeal syntrophic principles that shape global microbial networks aid both archaea and potentially pathogenic bacteria. Evaluating archaea interactions remains challenging, requiring clinical studies on inflammatory potential and the effects of archaeal metabolism. Establishing a culture collection is crucial for investigating archaea functions within the human microbiome, which could improve health outcomes in infectious diseases. We summarize potential reasons for archaeal nonpathogenicity, assess the association with infectious diseases in humans, and discuss the necessary experimental steps to enable mechanistic studies involving archaea.

Keywords: Methanobrevibacter; archaea; gastrointestinal tract; human microbiome; microbiome; oral cavity; pathogenicity; urogenital tract.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cycle of pathogen actions. Triangles indicate pathogenic potentials for archaea. The other actions still require attention and strategic research. Figure created with BioRender (https://www.biorender.com).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Infectious diseases in areas of the body in which archaea may have an effect. Figure created with BioRender (https://www.biorender.com).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Exploration of analytical potentials using archaeal isolates to enhance understanding of the role of archaea in health and disease. Figure created with BioRender (https://www.biorender.com).

References

    1. Borrel G, Brugère JF, Gribaldo S, Schmitz RA, Moissl-Eichinger C. The host-associated archaeome. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020;18:622–36. 10.1038/s41579-020-0407-y - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bang C, Schmitz RA. Archaea associated with human surfaces: not to be underestimated. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2015;39:631–48. 10.1093/femsre/fuv010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koskinen K, Pausan MR, Perras AK, Beck M, Bang C, Mora M, et al. First insights into the diverse human archaeome: specific detection of Archaea in the gastrointestinal tract, lung, and nose and on skin. MBio. 2017;8:e00824–17. 10.1128/mBio.00824-17 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mohammadzadeh R, Mahnert A, Duller S, Moissl-Eichinger C. Archaeal key-residents within the human microbiome: characteristics, interactions and involvement in health and disease. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2022;67:102146. 10.1016/j.mib.2022.102146 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chibani CM, Mahnert A, Borrel G, Almeida A, Werner A, Brugère JF, et al. A catalogue of 1,167 genomes from the human gut archaeome. Nat Microbiol. 2022;7:48–61. 10.1038/s41564-021-01020-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources