17 May 2011 Meet some of the bacteria that make up 90 per cent of the living cells in your body

There are about 500 to 1 000 different species of bacteria in each human body. They multiply in an adult to form about 100 trillion individual cells – about ten times as many as the human cells that make up a single human being. Meet some of them here in dramatic computer technicolour…

The human body is home to trillions of lifeforms, from rod-shaped E coli that use their three tails to swim vigorously up and down our guts, to salmonella which are famous for food poisoning scares but can happily live on our skin with no ill effects to us.

The fact that we are outnumbered ten to one by our bacterial guests may sound worrying, but bacteria are here for our benefit – and without them we wouldn’t survive long. This bacterial-human interaction is for the most part symbiotic. In return for food and board the bacteria help with digestion, vitamin production and bolstering our innate immune system. They also protect us against infection by pathogens – so called bad bacteria.

The Telegraph: See the full gallery here