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Updated: Jun 24, 2025

An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions
Published on: June 30, 2021
Unraveling host regulation of gut microbiota through the epigenome-microbiome axis
Michael L Pepke1, Søren B Hansen1, Morten T Limborg1
1Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK-1353 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract:
Recent studies of dynamic interactions between epigenetic modifications of a host organism and the composition or activity of its associated gut microbiota suggest an opportunity for the host to shape its microbiome through epigenetic alterations that lead to changes in gene expression and noncoding RNA activity. We use insights from microbiota-induced epigenetic changes to review the potential of the host to epigenetically regulate its gut microbiome, from which a bidirectional 'epigenome-microbiome axis' emerges. This axis embeds environmentally induced variation, which may influence the adaptive evolution of host-microbe interactions. We furthermore present our perspective on how the epigenome-microbiome axis can be understood and investigated within a holo-omic framework with potential applications in the applied health and food sciences.
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