In older times,living things were classified into two Kingdoms, the Animal and the Plant kingdoms. Microorganisms were initially placed in the Plant Kingdom, thus the term "Flora". Since microorganisms have been removed from the plant kingdom and are now in seperate Kingdoms of their own, thus the tern "Flora" is incorrect, so it is now changed to "Microbiota" (the microbial inhabitants of an certain location) .

That is the answer and I hope this helps.

I guess it is the same. Also the microbiome: the total of all microbes in a certain niche (however, usually only bacteria are indicated, not fungi and archaea).

Are synoninomous words

Thank you,

Actually, in Jawetz medical microbiology 2013 [Chapter 13, The Staphylococci], authors have decided to replace the word microbial flora with microbiota. When I checked, I found that many articles recently published also used this terminology. [You can check this in PubMed or Google Scholar. Also, the term Metagenome is recovered in MeSH when you type microbiota but no result will be shown for microbial flora!]

I still wonder why!

This article is very interesting http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23516617

The diferent only is microbioma, since microbiome is located set of genetic material of microorganisms belonging to

regards

Microbioma mean all 5 groups of microOrganisms where flora denotes only group of microbes like enteric flora.

In older times,living things were classified into two Kingdoms, the Animal and the Plant kingdoms. Microorganisms were initially placed in the Plant Kingdom, thus the term "Flora". Since microorganisms have been removed from the plant kingdom and are now in seperate Kingdoms of their own, thus the tern "Flora" is incorrect, so it is now changed to "Microbiota" (the microbial inhabitants of an certain location) .

That is the answer and I hope this helps.

Dear Dr. Khaled,

Now I think I understand the reason for this change.

I should also thank other members who shared their opinions with me.

Khaled nailed it: people felt that "flora" did not cover the bacteria anymore, since bacteria are not plants. However, "microbiota" itself is also the name of a genus of plants (a conifer). So sometimes when I still use the word "microflora" by accident, and someone points out that this is incorrect because bacteria are not plants and that I should use "microbiota", I will tell them to look up that word in Wikipedia: the main meaning of that word is a plant too.

Microbiota is the correct word. Microbialo flora is commonly used and understood, thus giving it a an important meaning.

The terms "microflora", "mycoflora" , "chryptogamic diseases" were used in the classical (old) books and papers related to Microbiology and Pathology (plant), before evidences from biochemical, physiological and molecular advances have demonstrated that certain microorganisms (procaryotes, eucaryotes) are not animals or plants, like bacteria and fungi. So, in these cases it is more appropiate to use microbiota or mycobiota. In addition, the term "microflora" can not be used for all microorganisms, like in the case of certain animals (in many cases parasites) that are microorganisms in wide sense (e.g nematodes) .

These names are synonymous.

Microbiota is more appropriate term

Microbial flora is that population of microorganisms which need not be active (just merely present at times) like in air/atmosphere. Microbiota is the active population of microorganisms not only interacting amongst themselves but also with other liviong and nonliving components of the ecosystems.

In may opinion, microbial flora are those organisms that normally persistently present at a specific ecosystem e.g. on the skin, gut.... Microbiota are the modified microbial species toward specific populations e,g. probiotics modified bowel species that we sometimes use in treatment of certain diseases e,g. diarrhea

For a clarification, and useful links, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiota_(microbiology)

Hello Emran,

In my opinion, I think microbial flora refers to the microorganisms that normally live in your gastrointestinal tract, skin, nose..etc. They are called 'friendly' microbes because they help you. In a healthy human, the internal tissues, e.g. blood, brain, muscle, etc., are normally free of microorganisms. However, the surface tissues, i.e., skin and mucous membranes, are constantly in contact with environmental organisms and become readily colonized by various microbial species. The mixture of organisms regularly found at any anatomical site is referred to as the normal flora, except by researchers in the field who prefer the term "indigenous microbiota". Bacteria are the most numerous and obvious microbial components of the normal flora.

For microbiota, according to Jeffrey Gordon (coined the term microbiome) means the collection of microbial species that form a microbial community. This could include the normal flora and "harmful" ones. We are just looking at bacterial as a whole. Another terminology you probably see a lot of is "microbiome," which is the collection of genes present in the genomes of microbial species present in a community.

Hope this helps : )

Microbiota=collection of microorganisms

Microbiome=collection of microbial genomes

Microflora is an oldfashioned term to name the collection of microbial communities inhabitnig a particular biological niche as skin, gastrointestinal tract, etc. The correct term used NOW is Microbiota becasue microflora reminds us the vegetal kindom where bacteria were placed. Now we do not classify Bacteria and Archaea and even eukariotic microorganisms as plants so it is highly recomended to stop using "microflora term" to refer to microbes communities. So, Microbiota is the newest and accepted term.

Well I agree with Dr. Khaled. But then I think that we still can use the term "microbial flora" for the micro-organisms that are plant-like (autotrophic) and that come under the microalgae group (e.g. diatoms and other chromophytes that are collectively called as phytoplankton).

Microflora is the community of microorganisms, including algae, fungi, and bacteria that live in or on another living organism or in a particular habitat. In fact, it is technically a misnomer since flora pertains to the kingdom Plantae. Some textbooks now use the term microbiota.

I believe these are two different names which mean the same

I suggest that nowadays microbiota is more correct.

The term "normal microbial flora or microbiota" denotes the population of microorganisms that inhabit the skin and mucous membranes of healthy normal persons. Research has shown that these "normal flora" now referred to as "normal microbiota" provide a first line of defense against microbial pathogens, assist in digestion, play a role in toxin-degradation, and contribute to maturation of the immune system.

Both terms are still in use. However, "microflora" is a remnant of the times bacteria were classified in the Plant Kingdom and is, thus, not an accurate term. It has been increasingly substituted with "microbiota". The link below will lead you to a video where Prof. Joel Doré (INRA) explains why "microbiota" is preferable to "microflora".

http://www.gutmicrobiotawatch.org/gut-microbiota-or-gut-flora-prof-joel-dore-explains-us-which-term-is-best/

I interpretate "microbial flora" as the the total of commensal guests and mutualist organisms; in reverse, I suppose that the microbiota is a less specific term that involve both commensal(or mutualist) and PARASITIC organisms who coexists in gut and skin

I think the following statements from the Wikipedia article (link below) are relevant and add some clarification:

"While the term microflora is common, it is technically a misnomer since flora pertains to the kingdom Plantae. Some textbooks now use the term microbiota. Microorganisms with animal-like characteristics are classed as microfauna."

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiota_(microbiology)

"Microbial flora" and "microbiota" are the same thing in nearly all cases. But "microbial flora" should not be used anymore as "flora" refers to plants.

Yes I agree with discussion suggesting the use of microbiota rather than microbial flora

Another similar term "microbiome" is also used quite often. It is worthy to note the difference. While microbiota means microbial community themselves, microbiome means the collective genomes of the microbial community.

See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiome

You would have heard of "flora and fauna" Flora is plant life / diversity and fauna is animal life / diversity. Historically, these terms were proposed when bacteria were studied as part of the plant kingdom but this is not the case anymore. In order to avoid confusion, microbiota is used as it diferentiates the meaning from the hisorical term. However, it is still used by many today and there is no correct or incorrect assigned to it's use but only preferred and not preferred.

Hai,

The microbial flora harbored by normal, healthy individuals is called “micrbiota”, which refers to the collection of live microscopic organisms that flourish inside the organs of living creatures. These microbes, which exist in places like the stomach, pharynx, and vagina, include fungi, bacteria, and viruses; they act as protective agents that strengthen the immune system or destructive agents that weaken the body.

The word flora comes from the Latin word Flora who was considered princess of flowers.Flora is a collective noun and it comprises all plants, trees, fungi and bacteria that may be present in a place at any given point of time. As bacteria are not included in plant kingdom now, so microbiota should be preferred to denote it Marimuthu .included virus normally present with bacteria, fungi inpur body but the idea is wrong. Virus always pathogenic and not present in healthy people.

There is positively no difference between the two. Why the new word then? Gee, some like to be different from others. That's it.

Hi

15th Iranian and International Congress of Microbiology

Tehran university of Medical Sciences (TUMS) during of August 2014 , Iran

I consider that microflora refers to the microbial community itself, but microbiota include both the bacterial community and associated BIOTIC factors, such as competition, niche status, symbiotic associations, etc.

microbiota is the community of microbes, microbiome- collection of their genes. but lately the term microbiome is also used when talking about the bugs themselves

Ami Rameshbhai Patel

You are totally wrong.