WASHINGTON: The Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, identified all 3 billion letters of genetic code that together control the development of a person. But human DNA is but a small portion of the DNA in every human. There are 10 times as many microbial cells in every person as human cells. And though they are small – accounting for two or three pounds of a person’s total weight – each has its own DNA code that contributes to the genetic totality of who we are.

In recognition of those unsung collaborators, the National Institutes of Health has launched the Human Microbiome Project – a five-year, $115 million “moon shot” to reveal the DNA sequences of hundreds of species of microbes that reside in the human gut, mouth, nose and urogenital tract, and (no matter how often you shower) on skin.

Human-dwelling bacteria and other microbes contribute to both health and disease. But most have never been grown in labs because they require very specific growth conditions and, in some cases, cannot live without the other bugs that usually surround them. The project will take advantage of new technology that allows comprehensive DNA analyses of many kinds of microbes at once, without having to grow them outside the body.

Volunteers, some healthy and others ill with various diseases, will donate tissue or fluid samples to four labs around the country where the work will be performed.

“Our goal is to discover what microbial communities exist in different parts of the body and to explore how these communities change in the presence of health or disease,” said Francis S. Collins, director of the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute and a leader of the effort.—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post