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Immune and genetic gardening of the intestinal microbiome
Author(s) -
Jacobs Jonathan P.,
Braun Jonathan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.02.052
Subject(s) - immune system , microbiome , biology , dysbiosis , innate immune system , immunology , population , immunity , acquired immune system , innate lymphoid cell , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , medicine , environmental health
The mucosal immune system – consisting of adaptive and innate immune cells as well as the epithelium – is profoundly influenced by its microbial environment. There is now growing evidence that the converse is also true, that the immune system shapes the composition of the intestinal microbiome. During conditions of health, this bidirectional interaction achieves a homeostasis in which inappropriate immune responses to non‐pathogenic microbes are averted and immune activity suppresses blooms of potentially pathogenic microbes (pathobionts). Genetic alteration in immune/epithelial function can affect host gardening of the intestinal microbiome, contributing to the diversity of intestinal microbiota within a population and in some cases allowing for unfavorable microbial ecologies (dysbiosis) that confer disease susceptibility.