ArticleGenome biology2020
Host-associated microbiomes are predicted by immune system complexity and climate.
Article in Genome biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 68 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Experimental temperatures shape host microbiome diversity and composition.Global change biology · 2023Pooled it
- Animal gut microbes and microbiomes in the 21st century and beyond.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Group recognition in the German cockroach, a subsocial omnivore, is based on faecal odour preference that is modulated by coprophagy, diet and learning.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2026Article
- Towards Key Principles of Host-Associated Microbiome Assembly.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Phylosymbiosis and Parallel Geographical Patterns in the Gut Microbiota of Desert-Dwelling Amphibians and Reptiles.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Effects of environmental setting and diet on the gut microbial ecology of eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis).Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Reprogramming host histone modifications by bacterial pathogens.Molecules and cells · 2026Review
- The epidermal ecotone: a proposed model system for marine viral ecology at the animal-environmental interface.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Advancing the study of microbial symbionts of amphibians and reptiles.Frontiers in amphibian and reptile science · 2026Article
- From gut-reproductive microbiota to ferroptosis: a comprehensive insight into the molecular-pathogenicity of endometriosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Marginal link between sociality and gut microbiome in disparate mammalian hosts.FEMS microbes · 2026Article
- Multiscale ecological boundaries and microbial community coalescence in host-associated microbiota.mSphere · 2025Article
- Imprints of Land Use History on the Cutaneous Microbiota of Mexican Cloud Forest Salamanders.Microbial ecology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiome plasticity and host resistance in response to ocean warming in sub-Antarctic sea urchins.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Gram-Negative Bacteria Across Spatial Scales: A Meta-Analysis of Ant-Associated Bacterial Communities Under Distinct Environmental Conditions.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The Impact of Whole-Animal Fluid Preservation on the Observed Gut Microbiome of Vertebrates: Implications for the Use of Museum Specimens in Microbiome Research.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Within-host microbial selection and multiple microbial generations buffer the loss of host fitness under environmental change.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Ecological mechanisms of microbial assembly in clonal plantApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Phylogenetic and ecological drivers of the avian lung mycobiome and its potentially pathogenic component.Communications biology · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHost-associated microbiomes, the microorganisms occurring inside and on host surfaces, influence evolutionary, immunological, and ecological processes. Interactions between host and microbiome affect metabolism and contribute to host adaptation to changing environments. Meta-analyses of host-associated bacterial communities have the potential to elucidate global-scale patterns of microbial community structure and function. It is possible that host surface-associated (external) microbiomes respond more strongly to variations in environmental factors, whereas internal microbiomes are more tightly linked to host factors.
resultsHere, we use the dataset from the Earth Microbiome Project and accumulate data from 50 additional studies totaling 654 host species and over 15,000 samples to examine global-scale patterns of bacterial diversity and function. We analyze microbiomes from non-captive hosts sampled from natural habitats and find patterns with bioclimate and geophysical factors, as well as land use, host phylogeny, and trophic level/diet. Specifically, external microbiomes are best explained by variations in mean daily temperature range and precipitation seasonality. In contrast, internal microbiomes are best explained by host factors such as phylogeny/immune complexity and trophic level/diet, plus climate.
conclusionsInternal microbiomes are predominantly associated with top-down effects, while climatic factors are stronger determinants of microbiomes on host external surfaces. Host immunity may act on microbiome diversity through top-down regulation analogous to predators in non-microbial ecosystems. Noting gaps in geographic and host sampling, this combined dataset represents a global baseline available for interrogation by future microbial ecology studies.
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