ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2020
Pathogen resistance may be the principal evolutionary advantage provided by the microbiome.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
What it found
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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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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Changes to Skin Microbiome Community Dynamics Support Resistance to Enzootic and Epizootic Strains of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum).Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Vaginal microbiomes and their pertinent social context: a microbial ecological review proffering AMR-STI acquisition and emergence.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- The uropygial gland of the European hoopoe as a symbiotic organ.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Symbiotic Bacterial Diversity, Functional Profiling and Antibiotic Susceptibility of the Red Imported Fire Ant.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- How Environmental and Ecological Stressors Reprogram Honey Bee Chemistry Through the Microbiome-Metabolome Axis.Insects · 2026Review
- The epidermal ecotone: a proposed model system for marine viral ecology at the animal-environmental interface.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Harnessing indigenous bacterial defenders to improve disease resistance and plant health in vegetableSustainable microbiology · 2026Review
- Differential Assembly of Core and Non-Core Host-Microbe Network Structures Along a Land-Use Change Gradient.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Clinical profiling of skin microbiome and metabolome during re-epithelialization.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Host specificity of gut microbiota associated with social bees: patterns and processes.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Seasonal variation in gut microbiota of migratory wild raptors: a case study in white-tailed eagles.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Microbiota Dysbiosis inMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- The Microbiota and Evolution of Obesity.Endocrine reviews · 2025Review
- Optimizing greenhouse microclimate for plant pathology: challenges and cooling solutions for pathogen control in arid regions.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Skin Bacterial and Fungal Microbiome Responses to Diet Supplementation and Rewilding in the Critically Endangered Southern Corroboree Frog.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
- Host genotype and infection status interact to shape microbiomes inParasitology · 2024Article
- Insect-microbe interactions and their influence on organisms and ecosystems.Ecology and evolution · 2024Review
- Review
- Stopover habitat selection drives variation in the gut microbiome composition and pathogen acquisition by migrating shorebirds.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
To survive, plants and animals must continually defend against pathogenic microbes that would invade and disrupt their tissues. Yet they do not attempt to extirpate all microbes. Instead, they tolerate and even encourage the growth of commensal microbes, which compete with pathogens for resources and via direct inhibition. We argue that hosts have evolved to cooperate with commensals in order to enhance the pathogen resistance this competition provides. We briefly describe competition between commensals and pathogens within the host, consider how natural selection might favour hosts that tilt this competition in favour of commensals, and describe examples of extant host traits that may serve this purpose. Finally, we consider ways that this cooperative immunity may have facilitated the adaptive evolution of non-pathogen-related host traits. On the basis of these observations, we argue that pathogen resistance vies with other commensal-provided benefits for being the principal evolutionary advantage provided by the microbiome to host lineages across the tree of life. This article is part of the theme issue 'The role of the microbiome in host evolution'.
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