{"id":78287,"date":"2026-02-09T17:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=78287"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T08:13:05","slug":"microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Microbiomes interconnect on a planetary-scale, new study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<article class=\"vf-card vf-card--brand vf-card--bordered vf-u-margin__bottom--800\" default>\n  <div class=\"vf-card__content | vf-stack vf-stack--400\">\n      <h3 class=\"vf-card__heading\">\n      Summary    <\/h3>\n                <p class=\"vf-card__text\"><ul>\r\n \t<li>A new study finds that microbiomes in similar habitats across geographically distant regions are more alike than those found in the same region but in different habitat types.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>While most microbes adapt to a specific ecosystem, a small subset known as \u2018generalists\u2019 can thrive across different habitats, ranging from wastewater to the human gut.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The team found that generalists connect vastly disparate habitats by carrying genes, including those that confer antibiotic resistance, and passing them on to other microbes through horizontal gene transfer.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Humans accelerate the dispersal of these microbes by creating new connections between environments that otherwise would not exist.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The findings provide support for One Health, a framework which proposes that human, animal, and environmental health are interdependent and mutually influential.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0092867425015004?via%3Dihub\">new study published in <\/a><em>Cell<\/em>, scientists in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/bork\/\">Bork Group<\/a> at EMBL Heidelberg reveal that microbes living in similar habitats are more alike than those simply inhabiting the same geographical region. By analysing tens of thousands of metagenomes, the team found that while most microbes adapt to a specific ecosystem, a rarer subset known as \u2018generalists\u2019 can thrive across very different habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Known for being ecologically tolerant, generalists are capable of moving from one habitat to another, interacting with and transferring their genes to other microbes, creating what the team describe as an interconnected, planet-wide network of microbiomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Developing a more holistic view of the microbiome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Up until now, most large-scale microbiome studies have been on a specific ecosystem basis, due to the technical and logistical constraints that a global analysis poses. The recent development of databases like <a href=\"https:\/\/spire.embl.de\/\">SPIRE<\/a> (Searchable, Planetary-scale mIcrobiome REsource) by scientists at EMBL and their international partners has made planet-wide studies more feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a publicly available database, SPIRE integrates, processes, and annotates microbial data from diverse habitats all over the world. Using 85,604 metagenomic samples from the SPIRE database, EMBL researchers were able to pinpoint 40 distinct microbial habitat types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRather than presuming which environmental drivers shape the microbiome structure, we let the microbes tell us themselves,\u201d said Daniel Podlesny, Research Scientist at EMBL and co-first author on the paper. \u201cWe quantified the similarity of each microbiome to all others in the dataset and identified 40 clusters of compositionally similar microbiomes, each comprising hundreds to thousands of samples from multiple independent studies. Using curated contextual metadata from our <a href=\"https:\/\/metalog.embl.de\/\">Metalog<\/a> database, we then determined what the microbiomes within a cluster have in common, such as host age or ocean temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"vf-figure wp-block-video\"><video style=\"max-width: 100%;\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BorkMicrobiomeHabitatsAMRgeneTRansfer_5Feb_1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Generalist microbes as genetic \u2018bridges\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on how they adapt to their environment, scientists broadly classify microbes as either specialists or generalists. As the name implies, specialists can only cope with specific environmental conditions, whereas generalists are capable of thriving in a wide range of habitats.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As generalists move across ecosystems, they laterally transfer their genes to other microbes that they come in contact with, in a process known as horizontal gene transfer. It\u2019s through this exchange of genetic information that generalists are able to create \u2018bridges\u2019 between geographically distant habitats \u2013 and therefore microbiomes \u2013 that would otherwise not exist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven disparate habitats, with fundamentally different physiochemical conditions, are connected by generalist species,&#8221; said Jonas Schiller, Predoctoral Fellow in the Bork Group and co-first author on the study.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Certain human-driven activities, including sewage disposal and anthropogenic climate change, accelerate the dispersal of generalists by creating new and faster routes for microbes to move between. Further compounding this issue is a surge in the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which leads to generalists evolving antimicrobial resistance genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As one of the top ten global public health threats, antimicrobial resistance is estimated to claim up to ten million lives by 2050, according to the World Health Organisation. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and other microorganisms evolve resistance to drugs, leading to historically treatable infections, like pneumonia, becoming harder, or sometimes impossible, to cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Viewing planetary health beyond a human-centred perspective<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur findings show that such microbes play an important role in linking human, animal, and environmental health \u2013 also known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/one-health#tab=tab_1\">One Health<\/a> \u2013 emphasising the need to view planetary health beyond a purely human-centred perspective,\u201d said Chan Yeong Kim, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Bork Group and co-first author on the study.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though the concept itself is fairly new, the idea behind One Health dates back to the nineteenth century when Rudolf Virchow, a German physician and physiologist, coined the term \u2018zoonosis,\u2019 to describe infectious diseases that can jump from animals to humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, One Health is embraced by the Quadripartite organisations, a group consisting of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By revealing that generalists can transfer their genes to other microbes as they move between environments as different as wastewater and the human gut, the team shows the extent to which human health depends on the health of animals and the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<article class=\"vf-card vf-card--brand vf-card--striped vf-u-margin__bottom--800\" default>\n  <div class=\"vf-card__content | vf-stack vf-stack--400\">\n      <h3 class=\"vf-card__heading\">\n      Carrying on in the Bork tradition    <\/h3>\n                <p class=\"vf-card__text\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a bittersweet bit of news that research from Peer Bork\u2019s group had been accepted for publication in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cell,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> shortly before his untimely <\/span><a class=\"vf-card_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/remembering-peer-bork-obituary\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">passing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Anyone involved in today\u2019s research knows it takes a community to yield discoveries, but those communities rely on effective leaders and mentors who foster curiosity and a compulsion to seek the truth in science.<\/span><br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among his many accomplishments and interests, Peer worked with multiple international research consortia, championing the need for large-scale collaborative research in frontier research areas. These have included participation in the Human Genome Project, working with the MetaHIT consortium on one of the first large metagenomics studies looking at population-level gut microbiome characteristics, and with the Tara Oceans Consortium for studying the microbiome of specific environments across the globe. Many projects are still ongoing in the group, for example, analysis on the data from the recent TREC (TRaversing European Coastlines) expedition.<\/span><br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peer passed away from natural causes on 16 January 2026, leaving behind an immense scientific legacy. This new paper embodies the top-tier science Peer consistently inspired and the organically collegial spirit that led to important findings. So it is with great pleasure and pride that the EMBL family shares this work now, despite his absence in our midst.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the largest study of its kind, EMBL scientists reveal that certain microbes can thrive across different ecosystems, contributing to the global spread of antimicrobial resistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":78465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17591],"tags":[12730,365,43,373,233,17693,1748],"embl_taxonomy":[19179,9796,5152,19081],"class_list":["post-78287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-antimicrobial-resistance","tag-bork","tag-heidelberg","tag-microbe","tag-microbiome","tag-molecular-systems-biology","tag-press-release","embl_taxonomy-bork-group","embl_taxonomy-embl-heidelberg","embl_taxonomy-molecular-systems-biology","embl_taxonomy-peer-bork"],"acf":{"vfwp-news_embl_taxonomy":[9796,5152,19179,19081],"featured":false,"show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"article_intro":"<p>In the largest study of its kind, EMBL scientists reveal that certain microbes can thrive across different ecosystems, contributing to the global spread of antimicrobial resistance<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Bork Group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/bork\/"},{"link_description":"Molecular Systems Biology Unit ","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/research\/units\/molecular-systems-biology\/"}],"source_article":[{"publication_title":"Planetary microbiome structure and generalist-driven gene flow across disparate habitats","publication_link":{"title":"","url":"http:\/\/10.1016\/j.cell.2025.12.051","target":""},"publication_authors":"Yeong Kim, C. and Podlesny, D., et al.","publication_source":"Cell","publication_date":"2026","publication_doi":"10.1016\/j.cell.2025.12.051  "},{"publication_title":"","publication_link":"","publication_authors":"","publication_source":"","publication_date":"","publication_doi":""}],"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"EMBL Generic","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"bd910dd7-0cda-4618-8bfa-d37fbda8438e\";i:2;s:36:\"2ce7bcc2-0091-4187-b6cb-01c5b0f24f68\";}","parents":[],"name":["Bork Group"],"slug":"bork-group","description":"What &gt; Molecular Systems Biology &gt; Bork Group"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"ab46b6d4-71d8-49f8-b2f4-b326d4c8ea4e\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Heidelberg"],"slug":"embl-heidelberg","description":"Where &gt; All EMBL sites &gt; EMBL Heidelberg"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"7ca3ce91-dc32-47ea-8d4b-7a53c3a3a9fd\";i:2;s:36:\"bd910dd7-0cda-4618-8bfa-d37fbda8438e\";}","parents":[],"name":["Molecular Systems Biology"],"slug":"molecular-systems-biology","description":"What &gt; Research Units &gt; Molecular Systems Biology"},{"uuid":"a:2:{i:0;s:36:\"4428d1fd-441a-4d6d-a1c5-5dcf5665f213\";i:1;s:36:\"87f160a6-a7bb-4d97-9709-05d4efc38819\";}","parents":[],"name":["Peer Bork"],"slug":"peer-bork","description":"Who &gt; Peer Bork"}],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Microbiomes interconnect on a planetary-scale, new study finds | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Certain microbes can thrive across different habitats and contribute to the global spread of antimicrobial resistance, find scientists at EMBL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microbiomes interconnect on a planetary-scale, new study finds | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Certain microbes can thrive across different habitats and contribute to the global spread of antimicrobial resistance, find scientists at EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T16:38:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T08:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BorkMicrobiomeHabitatsAMRgeneTRansfer_5Feb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sera Guli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sera Guli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sera Guli\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/5a9ab0396f8455df9bdc6e8756114e6f\"},\"headline\":\"Microbiomes interconnect on a planetary-scale, new study finds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T16:38:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T08:13:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/\"},\"wordCount\":700,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/microbiomes-interconnect-on-a-planetary-scale-new-study-finds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BorkMicrobiomeHabitatsAMRgeneTRansfer_5Feb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"antimicrobial resistance\",\"bork\",\"heidelberg\",\"microbe\",\"microbiome\",\"molecular systems biology\",\"press release\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; 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