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Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body

Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs, Ron Milo
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036103
Ron Sender
1Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann institute of science, Rehovot, Israel.
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Shai Fuchs
2Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann institute of science, Rehovot, Israel.
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  • For correspondence: ron.milo@weizmann.ac.il shai.fuchs@sickkids.ca
Ron Milo
1Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann institute of science, Rehovot, Israel.
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  • For correspondence: ron.milo@weizmann.ac.il shai.fuchs@sickkids.ca
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Abstract

We critically revisit the “common knowledge” that bacteria outnumber human cells by a ratio of at least 10:1 in the human body. We found the total number of bacteria in the “reference man” to be 3.9·1013, with an uncertainty (SEM) of 25%, and a variation over the population (CV) of 52%. For human cells we identify the dominant role of the hematopoietic lineage to the total count of body cells (≈90%), and revise past estimates to reach a total of 3.0·1013 human cells in the 70 kg “reference man” with 2% uncertainty and 14% CV. Our analysis updates the widely-cited 10:1 ratio, showing that the number of bacteria in our bodies is actually of the same order as the number of human cells. Indeed, the numbers are similar enough that each defecation event may flip the ratio to favor human cells over bacteria.

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Posted January 06, 2016.
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Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body
Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs, Ron Milo
bioRxiv 036103; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036103
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Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body
Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs, Ron Milo
bioRxiv 036103; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036103

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