half human/half ecosystem

human beings are in some sense symbiotic with other life organisms. which fits in nicely with all my beliefs about interbeing and humankind being a process of the universe. but i wonder what religious folk would say about that? probably "microbes in the human body? well, clearly that is original sin!" or something like that. anyway...

excerpts from Article:

"In a study published in the June 2 issue of Science , scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and their colleagues describe and analyze the colon microbiome, which includes more than 60,000 genes--twice as many as found in the human genome. Some of these microbial genes code for enzymes that humans need to digest food, suggesting that bacteria in the colon co-evolved with their human host, to mutual benefit."

"How many unique bacterial genera or species exist in the colon community? By comparison to the outside world, Gill suspects the human gut is at least as complex as our soils or seas."