What is it about?

Microbes often cooperate and compete with one another inside or upon their animal host. In this review, we discuss the occurrence and role of microbial cooperation and competition across different animal-microbe symbiosis, and highlight the key role that these social interactions play for the animal host.

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Why is it important?

Microbes often affect the development, behaviour, and life-history of their animal host. In recent years, it became clear these effects are often mediated by social interactions among different microbes. In our review, we summarise this new body of research and highlight that the nature of microbial interactions - and hence their effects on the host - depend on the number of microbe species an animal harbours.

Perspectives

This is my first last-author paper. I enjoyed the literature search because it combines the two independent lines of research I followed during my PhD and postdoc.

Dr Jos Kramer
ETH Zurich, D-USYS

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Cooperation and Conflict Within the Microbiota and Their Effects On Animal Hosts, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, May 2020, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00132.
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