Term | Definition | Comments |
---|---|---|
Host organism | The primary eukaryote minus all of its multiple microbiomes | Â |
Host genome | The entire genetic complement of the primary eukaryotic organism that was obtained by vertical transmission | Â |
Microbiome | An interacting group of microorganisms that share an ecological niche within the host such as the gut, nasopharynx or the skin [6] | Nearly all microbiomes are multispecies in character; however, even within a species they tend to be polyclonal in nature [5–8] |
Core genome | All the genes that each member of a species possesses [4] | Specifically in bacteria and perhaps other nonsexual haploid organisms (whose reproduction is not dependent on chromosome synapsis and meiosis) |
Distributed genes | All the genes that are not shared by all strains of a species [4] | Specifically in bacteria and perhaps other nonsexual haploid organisms (whose reproduction is not dependent on chromosome synapsis and meiosis). |
Supragenome or pangenome | Core genome plus all of the distributed genes of a species [2, 31] | Specifically for bacteria and perhaps other nonsexual haploid organisms (whose reproduction is not dependent on chromosome synapsis and meiosis). |
Symbiome | The organismal ecosystem complete with the eukaryotic host and all of its associated microbiomes | Â |
Hologenome | The symbiome's genome | Includes all genes from the host and all symbionts |