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Which fungal species are detected on a Microbiome Explorer report?

fungal species

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Written by Harrison
Updated over a month ago

Microbiome Explorer can assess over 28,000 species, including 2,953 fungal species (55 from the genus Candida).

- Published data shows Eukaryotes contribute less than 0.1% of the gut microbiome in healthy people, and fungal species (including Candida) contribute 0.01% or less of the gut microbiome.
- The Microbiome Explorer detection level is ~0.01%, thus fungi will usually fall below this threshold

-Fungal overgrowths typically show levels above 0.01%.

- Clinically relevant thresholds for fungal species have not yet been validated.

While Microbiome Explorer metagenomic analysis can detect fungal species such as Candida albicans, it is rare for it to be reported. It is important to note that Candida is only present at very low levels in healthy people, so even if detected at even lower levels with more sensitive methods, it is unlikely to be clinically relevant at such low levels.

1. Qin J, Li R, Raes J, et al. A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing. Nature. 2010; 464(7285):59-65. doi:10.1038/nature08821

2. Xie Z, Manichanh C. FunOMIC: Pipeline with built-in fungal taxonomic and functional databases for human mycobiome profiling. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2022; 20:3685-3694. doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2022.07.010

3. Nash AK, Auchtung TA, Wong MC, et al. The gut mycobiome of the Human Microbiome Project healthy cohort. Microbiome. 2017;5(1):153. Published 2017 Nov 25. doi:10.1186/s40168-017-0373-4

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