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🌍 Types of Microbiomes
Your microbiome isn‘t one ecosystem — it‘s several. The bacteria thriving in your gut would struggle to survive on your skin, and the community lining your mouth looks nothing like the one in the vaginal canal. Each body site has its own pH, oxygen level, moisture, and nutrient supply, and over time it selects for a distinct, specialized community of microbes. Understanding which "neighborhood" you‘re looking at is the first step to reading any microbiome result correctly.
The Four Microbial Neighborhoods
| Body Site | Defining Environment | Dominant Residents | What It Signals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gut Microbiome | Near-neutral pH, low oxygen, fed directly by diet | Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes phyla, Faecalibacterium, Bifidobacterium | Digestion, SCFA production, immune training, metabolic health |
| Skin Microbiome | Acidic surface (~pH 5.5), variable moisture and sebum across sites | Cutibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Corynebacterium, Malassezia | Barrier integrity, acne and eczema risk, protection against pathogens |
| Vaginal Microbiome | Low pH (~3.8–4.5) maintained by lactic acid, hormone-sensitive | Lactobacillus species (L. crispatus, L. iners, L. jensenii) | Reproductive and urogenital health; deviation is linked to bacterial vaginosis risk |
| Oral Microbiome | Multiple micro-habitats (teeth, gums, tongue, saliva) with biofilm formation | Streptococcus, Actinomyces, Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas | Dental and periodontal health, with emerging links to cardiovascular and systemic inflammation |
Because each site answers a different health question, a single "microbiome score" doesn‘t tell the full story — the site matters as much as the species. Explore any of the four neighborhoods below to see the specific organisms Mapmygenome tracks and what their presence — or absence — means for you.
(A fifth neighborhood, the urinary microbiome, is an active area of research we‘re building coverage for — check back soon.)
