The Evolution of Microbiome Transmission

Sogata's lab at the University of Trento has developed tools that can distinguish between strains of the same species. His group examined more than 9,700 samples of stool and saliva from 20 countries on five continents. They traced more than 800,000 strains of microbes between families, roommates, neighbors, and villages. The most sharing of strains happened between mothers and infants in the first year of life.