School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, UK.
Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2020 Dec 23;287(1941):20202886. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2886.
A fundamental aim of microbiome research is to understand the factors that influence the assembly and stability of host-associated microbiomes, and their impact on host phenotype, ecology and evolution. However, ecological and evolutionary theories applied to predict microbiome community dynamics are largely based on macroorganisms and lack microbiome-centric hypotheses that account for unique features of the microbiome. This special feature sets out to drive advancements in the application of eco-evolutionary theory to microbiome community dynamics through the development of microbiome-specific theoretical and conceptual frameworks across plant, human and non-human animal systems. The feature comprises 11 research and review articles that address: (i) the effects of the microbiome on host phenotype, ecology and evolution; (ii) the application and development of ecological and evolutionary theories to investigate microbiome assembly, diversity and stability across broad taxonomic scales; and (iii) general principles that underlie microbiome diversity and dynamics. This cross-disciplinary synthesis of theoretical, conceptual, methodological and analytical approaches to characterizing host-microbiome ecology and evolution across systems addresses key research gaps in the field of microbiome research and highlights future research priorities.
微生物组研究的一个基本目标是了解影响宿主相关微生物组组装和稳定性的因素，以及它们对宿主表型、生态和进化的影响。然而，应用于预测微生物组群落动态的生态和进化理论在很大程度上是基于宏观生物的，缺乏考虑微生物组独特特征的以微生物组为中心的假设。本专题通过在植物、人类和非人类动物系统中开发微生物组特有的理论和概念框架，旨在推动生态进化理论在微生物组群落动态中的应用。该专题由 11 篇研究和综述文章组成，涉及：（i）微生物组对宿主表型、生态和进化的影响；（ii）应用和发展生态和进化理论来研究跨越广泛分类尺度的微生物组组装、多样性和稳定性；以及（iii）微生物组多样性和动态的基础一般原则。本专题综合了跨学科的理论、概念、方法和分析方法，用于描述不同系统中的宿主-微生物组生态和进化，解决了微生物组研究领域的关键研究空白，并强调了未来的研究重点。
