A Weill Cornell Medical College research project to map the microbes on the NYC subway system led to a discovery that nearly half are currently unknown to scientists and less than one percent could be found in the human genome.
The New York City subway is teeming with microbes, almost half of which are currently unknown to scientists, but the ones that were identified likely won’t cause you to get sick.
This mysterious universe of bacteria has been discovered as a result of a research project led by Weill Cornell Medical College to map the DNA at a “city-wide scale”.
The project, called PathoMap, involved a collection of DNA at various parts on the city’s subway and railway system, including doors, benches, and poles, as well as at several public parks and a water canal.
Once the samples were tested, researchers found that nearly half could not be identified as a known organism and only 0.2 percent could be found in the human genome.
This low proportion of matches was not too
