| Abstract: |
Microbiology has gathered much attention in recent years in part thanks to major scientific advancements in the microbiome field. Large-scale projects such as the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (1-3) provide extensive catalogues of the microbes that live in and on the human body. Statements like "the human body is home to bacteria that outnumber human cells by more than 10:1" or "the genetic content of these bacteria can be 100x that of the human genome" are often used by mainstream media and are known to the general public. Vast explorations of the human and nonhuman microbiomes are to a large extent boosted by recent breakthroughs in DNA sequencing and community metagenomics (4-6), and the many studies that have emerged reveal an expanding role of multispecies host-associated microbial communities in several host functions (7,8). Arguably, one of the most notable functions of commensal microbiota, i.e., nonpathogenic microbes, is protecting the host from colonization by other microbes (9). This is an exciting area of research that aims to address open questions in pathogenesis such as why individuals exposed to the same pathogen can differ in their levels of infection. It can also explain why patients can have increased risk of infections after antibiotic therapy destroys the commensal microbiota that would naturally protect against pathogen invasion. © 2016 American Society for Microbiology. |
