Sculpting the microbiome
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Multicellular life evolved in the presence of microbes.These bacteria, fungi and viruses are an ever-present community known as the 'microbiome.'Hosts have evolved to expect the presence of resident microflora, which are even required for the developmental programmes of some organisms.The microbiome further complements the metabolic needs of the host, who in turn promotes a particular assemblage of microbes.However, stress can change the character of these normally symbiotic relationships, leading to dysbiosis and negative health effects on the host.This presents a paradox for the host immune system: the host must expect and tolerate colonization by resident microbes, but must also remain vigilant against opportunistic infections by potential pathogens.With the advent of CRISPR gene editing, single-cell RNA sequencing and low-cost genome sequencing, there has been a surge of valuable insights into how hosts select for and maintain microbial communities.Host-microbe interactions range across diverse animal phyla and microbial taxa.Traditionally, research in this area focused on how the presence/absence of the microbiome affects the host, or observed how immune or microbiome disruption affects the broad host-microbe system.In the last decade, the precision offered by modern techniques has helped to more finely decipher specific host mechanisms that sculpt and respond to the microbiome.There is a growing appreciation for how the microbiome provides a lens through which the host interprets its environment.1 This special issue reflects on recent discoveries that have changed the way we view host-microbiome interactions.Broadly, there are two major themes discussed throughout: first, modern techniques have now led to mechanistic understandings of host immune receptor and effector interactions with specific microbes.The power of the genetic tools and techniques of the last few years has provided confirmatory results for pre-existing ideas, but also a number of unexpected discoveries; and second, there has been increasing appreciation and precision in detailing the specialized niches that microbes colonize, and characterization of the metabolites microbes produce that impact the host.This interplay of host and microbe factors promotes healthy organism development and physiology through beneficial microbiome assemblages.This special issue was inspired by the 2022 European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology conference session 'Animal immunity at the interface of development and the microbial environment'.It has benefitted from the input by authors from many research backgrounds studying hostmicrobe systems of diverse animal phyla.In total, the issue comprises 17 articles contributed by 65 authors from eight countries.Their professional expertise spans a range of study systems, including both classic animal model organisms and non-model species of interest.Their research covers diverse environments, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial organisms with an array of micro and macro niches from across the tree of life.As editors, we hoped to provide an article collection with a global view of host-microbe interactions, and we thank the authors for making that a reality.
Institutions: University of Exeter, San Diego State University
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4392916287