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The Host-Microbe Interface: A New Voyage of Discovery

2007; Cell Press; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.chom.2007.02.008

1934-6069

Lakshmi Goyal,

Gut microbiota and health

In 1683, Anton van Leeuwenhoek looked at dental plaque through one of the early microscopes he had constructed and became the first person to observe micro-organisms. He described them as "very little living animalcules, very prettily a-moving." Since then, our fascination with van Leeuwenhoek's "animalcules" and other microbes has grown tremendously. Although the discipline of microbiology is over three centuries old, in molecular terms it has come of age relatively recently. Consider, for example, the remarkable achievement in 2005 of reconstructing the 1918 influenza virus.