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Author Spotlight: Axenic Rearing of Delia antiqua to Detect the Impact of Intestinal Microbes on Its Growth and Development
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Why do hosts malfunction without microbes? Missing benefits versus evolutionary addiction.

Tobin J Hammer1

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.

Trends in Microbiology
|August 31, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Hosts may develop a need for microbes not because they are beneficial, but due to evolutionary addiction. This concept offers a new perspective on host-microbe dependencies and interactions.

Keywords:
evolved dependencehost–microbe interactionsmicrobiomemutualismsymbiosis

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Host-Microbe Interactions

Background:

  • Microbes are increasingly recognized as essential for host health.
  • Host malfunction following microbe removal supports this consensus.
  • Dependencies span fundamental processes: development, immunity, physiology, and behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose evolutionary addiction as an alternative explanation for host-microbe dependencies.
  • To differentiate evolutionary addiction from simple beneficial microbial roles.
  • To highlight implications for interpreting microbe-removal experiments and host-microbe evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of host-microbe interactions.
  • Review of existing literature on microbe-removal experiments.
  • Theoretical framework development for evolutionary addiction.

Main Results:

  • Microbial dependencies may arise from evolutionary addiction, not just benefit.
  • Evolutionary addiction describes a host trait needing microbes without prior improvement.
  • This process offers a distinct explanation for observed host-microbe relationships.

Conclusions:

  • Evolutionary addiction is a crucial consideration when interpreting microbe-removal studies.
  • This concept provides a novel framework for understanding host-microbe dynamics.
  • It has significant implications for the evolution and stability of symbiotic relationships.