2012 August, “Defining the Human Microbiome”, inNutrition Reviews[1], volume70, number Suppl. 1, pagesS38–S44:
The human microbiota consists of the 10-100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells harbored by each person, primarily bacteria in the gut; the humanmicrobiome consists of the genes these cells harbor.
2018 March 26, Nicola Davis, “The human microbiome: why our microbes could be key to our health”, inThe Guardian[2]:
Your body’smicrobiome is all the genes your microbiota contains, however colloquially the two terms are often used interchangeably.
2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, inThe Economist[3], volume407, number8842, pages72–3:
Mostly, themicrobiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
2014 June 30, Wayne Koberstein, “Second Genome”, inLife Science Leader[4], volume 6, number 7, page14:
Themicrobiome creates the immediate environment for our genes as they play out their part in disease mechanisms.
2019 October 7, Sandee LaMotte, “The germiest place in your home and the best way to combat those microbes”, inCNN[5]:
Yes, there are microbes everywhere and most are just fine for us, perhaps even beneficial to ourmicrobiomes and immune systems. We don’t care about those.
2020, Merlin Sheldrake,Entangled Life, page18:
For your community of microbes— your 'microbiome' — your body is a planet.
Microbiota on Wikipedia.Wikipedia