mSphere of Influence: Drivers of Host-Associated Microbial Community Structure and Change

Vanessa L. Hale studies the role of the microbiome in disease suscepti-bility in animal and human health. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the papers Evolution of mammals and their gut microbes (R. E. Ley, M. Hamady, C. Lozupone, P. J. Turnbaugh, et al., Science 320:1647-1651, 2008, https:// doi.org/10.1126/science.1155725) and A dietary fiber-deprived gut microbiota degrades the colonic mucus barrier and enhances pathogen susceptibility (M. S. Desai, A. M. Seekatz, N. M. Koropatkin, N. Kamada, et al., Cell 167:1339-1353.e21, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.10.043) have provided a foundation for studying drivers of gut microbial structure and change across host species in the context of evolution and disease risk.

Automated summary

Vanessa L. Hale researches the role of the microbiome in disease susceptibility in animal and human health, reflecting on how two papers on gut microbes and disease susceptibility have laid the foundation for studying the drivers of gut microbial structure and change across host species in relation to evolution and disease risk.