A perspective article with Mathias Hornef as co-author was published in Nature on January 25th 2023 dealing with the analysis of low density microbiota. The paper discusses the technical problems and limitations that come with using sequencing methods to analyze low density samples. The example of the proposed fetal or placental microbiota is presented. A number of papers published during the last years suggested the presence of a low density microbiota in the placenta based mainly on sequencing data. The technical limitations that come with this method, however, when carefully considered strongly question the conclusions drawn in these papers and rather support the original sterile womb hypothesis.
The article can be accessed via https://rdcu.be/c39ts
