Gut immune responses and evolution of the gut microbiome-a hypothesis.



Viney, Mark and Cheynel, Louise
(2023) Gut immune responses and evolution of the gut microbiome-a hypothesis. Discovery immunology, 2 (1). kyad025-kyad025.

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Abstract

The gut microbiome is an assemblage of microbes that have profound effects on their hosts. The composition of the microbiome is affected by bottom-up, among-taxa interactions and by top-down, host effects, which includes the host immune response. While the high-level composition of the microbiome is generally stable over time, component strains and genotypes will constantly be evolving, with both bottom-up and top-down effects acting as selection pressures, driving microbial evolution. Secretory IgA is a major feature of the gut's adaptive immune response, and a substantial proportion of gut bacteria are coated with IgA, though the effect of this on bacteria is unclear. Here we hypothesize that IgA binding to gut bacteria is a selection pressure that will drive the evolution of IgA-bound bacteria, so that they will have a different evolutionary trajectory than those bacteria not bound by IgA. We know very little about the microbiome of wild animals and even less about their gut immune responses, but it must be a priority to investigate this hypothesis to understand if and how host immune responses contribute to microbiome evolution.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: IgA, evolution, microbiome
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 23 Apr 2024 08:38
Last Modified: 23 Apr 2024 08:39
DOI: 10.1093/discim/kyad025
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/discim/kyad025
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3180515