Table 1.

Definitions Of Key Terms

Term	Definition
Microbiota	Microbes (e.g., bacteria, fungi, viruses) that collectively inhabit an ecosystem.
Microbiome	Collection of all genomes of microbes in an ecosystem.
Biomarker‐based sequencing	Process of cataloguing microbes through analysis of sequence variation in a single ubiquitous gene.
Whole metagenome sequencing	Process of cataloguing all the genetic material present in a biologic sample.
Metatranscriptomics	Process of profiling all expressed genes (RNA) in a biologic sample.
Metaproteomics	Study of all proteins found in a biologic sample.
Metabolomics	Study of all small‐molecule chemicals found in a biologic sample.