Some of the most diverse environments in the world can be found right in our bathroomsvirally speaking.
Thankfully, though, these bacteria-hunting viruses arent dangerous to people.
The world is filled with countless viruses, bacteria, and other microscopical life.
New research shows that hundreds of unknown viruses are lurking in our toothbrushes.© Oscar Wong via Getty
So scientists are always interested in cataloging previously unknown microbial neighborhoods, also called microbiomes.
Toothbrushes and showerheads harbor phage that are unlike anything weve seen before.
Researchers at Northwestern led this new study,publishedWednesday in the journalFrontiers in Microbiomes.
The research is an extension of their previous project, nicknamed Operation Pottymouth.
The scientists intially wanted to study unexplored bacterial microbiomes close to home.
There is so much about the world around us that we dont understandincluding the things that may seem familiar.
But the next frontier of microbiology is phage.
There are so many phage out there, and we know so little about them.
So we decided to start just by looking at whats around us.
They unearthed an immense amount of phage in their samples, tallying over 600 viruses in total.
Some mycobacteria are known to cause serious diseases in humans, such as leprosy and tuberculosis.
Toothbrushes and showerheads harbor phage that are unlike anything weve seen before.
This amount of diversity is huge, and it isnt because of anything specific to toothbrushes or showerheads.
There are just so many phage out there waiting to be discovered.
Bacteriophages are, as their name suggests, a problem for bacteria, not people.
But even the discovery alone is worthwhile, she adds.
It could be that the next great antibiotic will be based on something that grew on your toothbrush.
Theyre also developing new methods to better observe them and how they work.
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