No this is not local but it does rather make the point that the organisms in our gut play a huge part in our health so they are worth managing well.
L. Caetano M. Antunes Julian E. Davies and B. Brett Finlay (2011).
Mining bacterial small molecules. The Scientist 25(1) 26.
As much as rainforests or deep-sea vents the human gut holds rich stores of microbial chemicals that should be mined for their pharmacological potential.
Companies spend huge resources going to the far reaches of the Earth to search for the next blockbuster. But we need look no further than our own intestines which are populated with thousands of bacterial species that are constantly producing and releasing small bioactive molecules.
That DNA RNA and proteins are central to life is irrefutable.
However the functioning of living organisms not only depends on these molecules but in most cases extends to incorporate the end products of multiple metabolic pathways. In other words in most cases it is the small molecules that are the crux of biological function. While other sources of bioactive molecules should not be ignored harnessing the bacterial chemicals in our own gut may yield molecules that have already been shaped for very specific interactions through years of coevolution between humans and their microbial partners.
[http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57881/#ixzz1A13JVjFD
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