Only a few fungi species were found on other body parts known to house fungi—such as behind the ears and on palms—according to the most thorough analysis to date of our fungal "landscape." (Also see "Armpits Are 'Rain Forests' for Bacteria, Skin Map Shows.")

The minute bioforms that live with us are the subject of much recent study. But most research has focused on easily studied bacteria instead of fungi, whose DNA was harder to sequence until recently, explained study leader Julie Segre, senior investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

"Our human cells live together with bacteria and fungi; in that way I consider the