Scientists find potential new life form living in human guts
There are currently three life forms recognised by scientists that are classified as bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Biologists are now suggesting a whole new form affecting the human body from the gut. The discovery comes from the analysis of 86 gene families, showing new DNA sequences different among the three forms of life.
Researchers from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris are aiming to redefine the classification of organisms living inside the human colons. Among the gene families in the study, new DNA sequences were found different, indicating these are beyond the classification of the three recognised forms of life.
The discovery led the experts to suggest a fourth form of life in the list. However, they noted that the unique DNA sequences may also indicate that some of the currently-recognised life forms are more genetically diverse than what they have been identified.
The unique sequences were among the nearly 230,000 DNA sequences recovered from microbiome samples for the study. These sequences were found to be highly unusual in about one-third of the DNA, sharing its identity with any known gene sequences by only 60 percent or less, researchers said.
“That degree of difference is what you might expect to separate different domains of life, such as bacteria and archaea," they added. The discovery shows the limited understanding of experts to the most diverse elements of the microbial world remains, according to lead researchers Philippe Lopez and Eric Bapteste.
However, further studies are required to fully recognise the fourth life form. The findings “encourage a deeper exploration of natural communities and their genetic resources, hinting at the possibility that still unknown yet major divisions of life have yet to be discovered," the report, published in the journal Biology Direct, indicates.
"Let's wait to see how unusual the organisms are," Bapteste told New Scientist. "Scientists have found a huge diversity of microbes in the human gut, so I would not expect it to be necessarily hostile to different life forms."
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