Fungal feelings in the irritable bowel syndrome: the intestinal mycobiome and abdominal pain

Although the gut microbiota consists of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, most publications addressing the microbiota-gut-brain axis in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have a sole focus on bacteria. This may relate to the relatively low presence of fungi and viruses as compared to bacteria. Yet, in the field of inflammatory bowel disease research, the publication of several papers addressing the role of the intestinal mycobiome now suggested that these low numbers do not necessarily translate to irrelevance. In this review, we discuss the available clinical and preclinical IBS mycobiome data, and speculate how these recent findings may relate to earlier observations in IBS. By surveying literature from the broader mycobiome research field, we identified questions open to future IBS-oriented investigations.

Automated summary

Although the gut microbiota consists of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, most studies on the microbiota-gut-brain axis in IBS have primarily focused on bacteria due to their higher presence. However, recent research on the intestinal mycobiome in inflammatory bowel disease suggests that the low numbers of fungi and viruses may still have relevance. This review discusses the current IBS mycobiome data and how these findings could relate to previous observations in IBS, as well as identifies questions for future research.