Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

I, holobiont. Are you and your microbes a community or a single entity?

#1
C C Offline
https://aeon.co/ideas/i-holobiont-are-yo...gle-entity

EXCERPT: . . . These organisms together make up what’s known as a holobiont: a combination of a host, plus all of the resident microbes that live in it and on it. The concept has taken off within biology in the past 10 years [...] Some of the microorganisms kill each other with toxins, while others leak or release enzymes and nutrients to the benefit of their neighbours. As they compete for space and food, cohabiting microbes have been found to affect the nutrition, development, immune system and behaviour of their hosts. The hosts, for their part, can often manipulate their resident microbiota in many ways, usually via the immune system.

You yourself are swarming with bacteria, archaea, protists and viruses, and might even be carrying larger organisms such as worms and fungi as well. So are you a holobiont, or are you just part of one? Are you a multispecies entity, made up of some human bits and some microbial bits – or are you just the human bits, with an admittedly fuzzy boundary between yourself and your tiny companions? The future direction of medical science could very well hinge on the answer.

[...] The ecological and evolutionary views make for very different predictions about how a holobiont will change over time. Evolutionary theory predicts that the parts of a unit of selection will tend to cooperate: to sacrifice their own interests for the good of the whole. Ecological theory, by contrast, predicts competition and exploitation: parts will cooperate only insofar as it benefits them. Think of the differences between an ant colony and a motley assortment of insects fighting over scarce resources.

A dominant view in medicine treats the body as a battleground where any invaders are bad and must be exterminated. But in an ecosystem, there are no bad guys, just species playing different roles. If the ecological account of holobionts is true, a human host is more like a habitat to be managed, with the right balance and competition between different kinds of microbes being an important consideration. [...]

However, the evolutionary version of holobionts gives us reason to stick to an expanded version of the ‘us versus them’ picture of medicine. It’s just that now we have a few more allies on our side that we need to take care of. The evolutionary framework might also provide some justification for the calls for a return to a palaeomicrobiome that existed before the modern diet – for that would literally help to return a missing part of ourselves.

As things stand, the evidence leans heavily towards a more ecological interpretation of holobionts. Most of the partners come together anew each generation, and don’t interact in the ways that are necessary for higher-level integration into organismic wholes. [...] But it potentially varies from holobiont to holobiont. There is still a long and exciting scientific road ahead [...]

MORE: https://aeon.co/ideas/i-holobiont-are-yo...gle-entity
Reply
#2
confused2 Offline
When I was a child there was one boy in the school (of 400) with asthma, possibly one or two with eczema and none with allergies to anything. The rate of increase of immune system related problems is much too rapid to be accounted for by evolution. Leaving (is there anything else?) the internal flora and fauna left from breast feeding, very few antibiotics and a fairly mucky (non-antiseptic) environment which my generation (in the west) benefited from and later generations haven't.
Reply
#3
Zinjanthropos Offline
Quote: So are you a holobiont, or are you just part of one? 

I'm a dinner plate.....for the microbial world that is. Always thought that way. Those little buggers eat everything from shit to nuclear waste. And if they don't then they'll quickly evolve to. For all I know, host life forms are being farmed by them Wink
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Baby kangaroo fecal microbes could reduce methane from cows C C 0 60 Feb 16, 2023 01:49 AM
Last Post: C C
  A novel, powerful tool to unveil communication between gut microbes and the brain C C 0 66 Jan 15, 2023 02:09 AM
Last Post: C C
  Interstellar picogram probe idea could carry engineered microbes to other stars C C 0 62 Jan 1, 2023 05:45 PM
Last Post: C C
  Celibacy's evolutionary advantages + City peeps lost half their gut microbes + Cancer C C 0 69 Jun 23, 2022 05:40 PM
Last Post: C C
  BF + Why single people smell different + Secret workings of smell receptors revealed C C 0 120 Jun 22, 2021 07:27 PM
Last Post: C C
  QM might explain some DNA mutations + Permafrost microbes could trigger carbon bomb C C 0 87 Mar 18, 2021 06:50 PM
Last Post: C C
  Self-replicating molecules show signs of metabolism + 100-mil-yr old microbes revived C C 0 150 Jul 31, 2020 03:01 AM
Last Post: C C
  Brainless single-cell seems able to "change its mind" + How microbiomes affect fear C C 2 344 Dec 9, 2019 11:12 PM
Last Post: confused2
  Did Mars and Earth swap microbes? C C 0 344 Mar 18, 2019 08:48 AM
Last Post: C C
  Can you blame your behavior on your gut microbiome? C C 0 412 Dec 17, 2018 06:53 PM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)