Seed is a leading probiotics and health company putting education first, and encouraging their active social community to get curious about their inner worlds. For a few months in 2020, I supported Seed with copy for social media, including a really fun and intriguing series on the sexual microbiome, and some flirty digital Valentines cards.
Here are a few of my favorite social moments:
FULL CAPTION:
Swapping spit is out. → Swapping microbes is in. Much like your personal space, your most intimate secrets, and your favorite records, you probably share some of your microbiome with your partner(s). 👬🏼👭👫⠀
⠀
Our microbiome is an imprint both within and on our bodies. Like our genome or our fingerprint, it’s entirely unique to us. We even emit a 'microbial cloud'¹ through the bits of ourselves we leave behind.⠀
⠀
These microbes can say a lot about us. Scientists at the University of Waterloo found² that they could determine the biological sex of an individual, with 100 percent accuracy, by analyzing samples of skin from their inner thighs. ⠀
⠀
And when you ❤️ someone enough to share a bedroom with them, it’s no wonder your microbial communities start getting friendly, too. In that same study, scientists were able to determine which of the 20 participants were lovers after collecting skin swabs from 17 spots on their bodies (their upper eyelids, nostrils, torsos, inner thighs, backs, armpits, navels, palms, and feet). After analyzing the samples, they found that microbes were swapped to a large enough extent that they could link the couples within 86% accuracy. The place where the most microbes were swapped? The bottom of the partners’ feet — probably not for sexy reasons, but from picking up bacteria shed on the floor. 👣⠀
⠀
_____⠀
⠀
¹ Meadow, J. F., Altrichter, A. E., Bateman, A. C., Stenson, J., Brown, G. Z., Green, J. L., & Bohannan, B. J. (2015). Humans differ in their personal microbial cloud. PeerJ, 3, e1258. doi:10.7717/peerj.1258⠀
⠀
² Ashley A. R., Andrew C. D., Josh D. N. (2017). The Skin Microbiome of Cohabiting Couples. mSystems, 2 (4) e00043-17; DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00043-17
FULL CAPTION:
Wouldn’t it be nice if sex *was* all fun and games? According to the CDC, 2019 showed a fourth consecutive year of rising STIs and a record high of 2.3 million new infections. Over 70% of those were chlamydia, a particularly tough infection to detect and study. And while it’s certainly no foolproof STI protection, new evidence shows that bacterial strains within the vaginal microbiome can actually influence our susceptibility. ⠀
⠀
Much like the gut, the vaginal microbiome is home to an ecosystem of bacteria that keep vaginal health in check. But unlike the gut, where diversity is a marker of health, healthy vaginal microbiomes tend to be dominated by single species that maintains low pH and guards against intruders.⠀
⠀
But what we didn’t know until recently, is that when it comes to preventing infections like chlamydia, the presence of lactic acid is key. According to researchers in a recent 2019 study, just 30 minutes of exposure to D-lactic acid gives the vaginal mucosa up to 48 hours of protection against chlamydia. However, vaginas dominated by Lactobacillus iners are unable to synthesize it. What’s more, after receiving antibiotic treatment for chlamydia, the resistant Lactobacillus iners actually proliferate, making you more susceptible to reinfection in the future.⠀
⠀
This seven-year study is the first to confirm the cross-talk between the vaginal microbiome and STI risk. It also shows that antibiotic treatment for chlamydia is insufficient and possibly even dangerous, and that biotherapeutics offer a promising new territory for prevention and treatment of STIs.⠀
⠀
_____⠀
⠀
¹ Edwards, V. L., Smith, S. B., McComb, E. J., et al. (2019). The Cervicovaginal Microbiota-Host Interaction Modulates Chlamydia trachomatis Infection. mBio. 10(4). DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01548-19
FULL CAPTION:
If Wolbachia had its way, the future would be female. Literally.⠀
⠀
One of the most widespread parasitic bacteria, Wolbachia has been able to thrive because of its unique ability to manipulate the sexual function of its hosts. Sex is survival to Wolbachia—that’s how it gets passed down from generation to generation. But because it can’t be passed through mature sperm, it needs a female host to continue its legacy.⠀
⠀
How does it do that? Well, it’s mastered a few methods of manipulating its host population to ensure the females it needs. In woodlice, Wolbachia are capable of changing genetic males into functional females through a process called feminization. More eggs = more Wolbachia passed down through more babies. ⠀
⠀
Another (more brutal) way of favoring females is simply called male-killing. ☠️During reproduction, Wolbachia are able to infect male embryos and trigger their death. In a population of blue-moon butterflies, Wolbachia were able to manipulate the population so that females outnumbered males by 100 to 1.⠀
⠀
If you ever thought microbes were invisible, and therefore inconsequential, let Wolbachia change (and blow) your mind. 🤓⠀
⠀
_____⠀
⠀
Yong, Ed. I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. First U.S. edition. New York, NY: Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2016.
FULL CAPTION:
The world’s natural systems have a pretty ubiquitous way of functioning. Whether we’re looking in a Petri dish or at a forest, we see a network of individual organisms thriving as a whole, each interdependent on the others for nourishment, protection, and balance. But in a universe so visibly symbiotic, how have we strayed so far apart? Human and planetary diseases are rising while biodiversity declines—is it time to return to our roots? 🌱
A hidden world of microbial molecules are waiting to be discovered, and they hold infinite potential for the future of health and medicine. In 2018, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory sought out to examine the root microbiomes of the poplar tree (a rapid-growing species abundant in North America). They discovered¹ bacterial communities 10X more diverse than those in the human microbiome, with 15% of the gene clusters falling outside of common categories of gene structure. Some of them may even represent molecules never seen before by scientists.
Novel molecules open doors to new microbial health solutions—think novel precision antibiotics (that don’t kill all microbes indiscriminately), anti-cancer drugs, or gentler solutions to agricultural management. Biodiversity is key to health on micro and macro levels, and we’re learning that the natural world might contain more solutions than we might think.
On that note—when was the last time you spent time in nature? Shinrin-yoku (the Japanese practice of ‘forest bathing’, or opening your senses while in nature) has been studied² to reduce pulse rate, alleviate negative moods, and increase vigor. Hint: it would also bump up your microbial diversity.
_____
¹ Askey, Kim. “Scientists Find Great Diversity, Novel Molecules in Microbiome of Tree Roots.” Phys.org, Phys.org, 26 Oct. 2018, phys.org/news/2018-10-scientists-great-diversity-molecules-microbiome.html.
² Li, Qing, et al. “Effects of Forest Bathing on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Parameters in Middle-Aged Males.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2016, 2016, pp. 1–7., doi:10.1155/2016/2587381.
Karanikolov, Dimitar, @karanikolov. Video. 2019.
Last but not at all least, these digital Valentines for you and yours to share on Instagram.
