A human genome has about 25k genes, but the “acquired human microbiome,” in the trillions of microbial cells that inhabit peoples’ digestive tracts, is on the order of 1m genes.  Moreover, those gut-inhabiting microbes are highly significant in human metabolism and obesity.  Genetic research on these organisms is now going on in China, where the Beijing Genomics Institute is expected to surpass the entire US sequencing capability sometime this year.  MORE

Image Credit:  Technology Review