The NIH Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was initiated to probe the richness of the microfloral community living in and on the human body, and to help us understand how these communities can affect human health. To be successful in this endeavor, we will need to develop new technological and bioinformatics tools, as well as address the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by human microbiome research.
Initial HMP sequencing efforts are already underway in the initial .Jumpstart. phase at multiple sequencing centers. Sequencing during the Jumpstart will include analyzing 200 microbial reference genomes, 16S rRNA sequencing for microbial community profiling, and shotgun metagenomics. Data acquisition efforts beyond the Jumpstart will include the development of a microbial genome reference set of at least 400 additional genomes, as well as extensive metagenomic sequencing to characterize the microbial communities from multiple body sites in a large pool of individuals. This extensive sampling will dramatically increase our knowledge of both the microbial diversity and core microbiome at each site. Eventually, we hope to probe the relationships between disease and changes in the human microbiome, with the goal of helping promote human health worldwide.
