Unveiling the hidden world within us: What environmental microbiomes can teach us about ourselves

Microbial communities, consisting of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses, are integral to both environmental and human health. While the One Health concept emphasises the interconnectedness of people, animals, plants and their environment, our understanding of these microbial systems remains incomplete. There is strong evidence that microbiomes play essential roles in ecosystems and human health. Yet unravelling their exact functions is challenging because of their vast numbers, genetic variability, and rapid gene exchange. Over the past three decades, significant progress has been made in highlighting the importance of microbiomes. However, we still lack a clear understanding of how they operate mechanistically in diverse ecosystems. Given that microbial communities are now recognised as foundational to achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), it is critical to explore their roles in both natural environments and host organisms. In this lecture, I will explore how environmental microbiomes, especially in extreme ecosystems such as the Southern Ocean, can shed light on the human microbiome. Through the application of next-generation sequencing technologies, we have gained unprecedented insights into the diversity and functional dynamics of microbial communities. By comparing gut microbiomes in urban and rural populations, I will illustrate how these microbial systems influence human health and are central to the One Health paradigm. In summary, I will highlight our ongoing research and demonstrate how understanding microbiomes in both environmental and host-associated contexts can help shape a sustainable future, providing deeper insights into our own biological systems.

WATCH THE INAUGURAL LECTURE HERE

Short biography

Thulani Makhalanyane is a full professor in the Department of Microbiology and the School for Data Sciences and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University (SU). Having obtained his MSc and PhD at the University of the Western Cape, Thulani joined the University of Pretoria (UP) in 2013, where his postdoctoral research focused almost entirely on understanding the ecology of microbial communities in extreme ecosystems. At UP, he advanced from postdoctoral fellow to full professor in the space of ten years, and was also the founding incumbent of the DSI/NRF SARChI Chair in Marine Microbiomics. He joined SU in November 2023.

Thulani previously taught undergraduate modules in Microbiology (Bacteriology) and Genetics (Genome Evolution and Phylogenetics) and currently supervises a team of 16 master’s and doctoral students. He has co-authored over 95 publications, which have recorded over 4 000 citations. These publications have appeared in leading multidisciplinary journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Microbiology and Science Advances. He is a popular keynote speaker at international meetings, including the Gordon Research Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of prestigious journals in his discipline, including as current Editor-in-Chief: Reviews and Perspectives for the ISME Journal as well as senior editor of mSystems and Ecology Letters.

He further contributes to his field by serving on the committees of eminent societies, including Applied Microbiology International. In 2018, Thulani was elected to the board of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) and appointed director of the ISME Ambassador Programme, which aims to conduct outreaches in over 100 countries. Since 2019, he has served as a member of the National Research Foundation (NRF) specialist committee for ratings in basic and applied microbiology, and was appointed convener of this committee in 2022. He also serves on several panels representing South Africa in bilateral discussions.

Thulani has garnered multiple national and international awards for his work. These include a Fulbright scholarship, the prestigious TW Kambule-NSTF award for an emerging researcher (2015), the ISME Ambassador of the Year Award (2016), and UP Exceptional Achievers awards (2019, 2020–2024). Boasting a P-rating from the NRF, he was inducted as a member of the South African Academy of Sciences at the age of 39. He recently received the South African Society for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry’s silver medal, which is bestowed on a young researcher who has displayed a record of national and international research excellence.