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Updated: Dec 16, 2025

An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions
Published on: June 30, 2021
Receptors Mediating Host-Microbiota Communication in the Metaorganism: The Invertebrate Perspective
1Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics, Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
Abstract:
Multicellular organisms live in close association with a plethora of microorganism, which have a profound effect on multiple host functions. As such, the microbiota and its host form an intimate functional entity, termed the metaorganism or holobiont. But how does the metaorganism communicate? Which receptors recognize microbial signals, mediate the effect of the microbiota on host physiology or regulate microbiota composition and homeostasis? In this review we provide an overview on the function of different receptor classes in animal host-microbiota communication. We put a special focus on invertebrate hosts, including both traditional invertebrate models such as Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans and "non-model" invertebrates in microbiota research. Finally, we highlight the potential of invertebrate systems in studying mechanism of host-microbiota interactions.
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