In most animals, digestive tracts harbor the greatest number of bacteria in the animal that
contribute to its health: by aiding in the digestion of nutrients, provisioning essential nutrients …

For the first billion years of life on Earth, prokaryotes had the place to themselves. By the
time the first eukaryotes and then, finally, multicellular organisms arose and diversified …

Highlights•Animal gut microbiomes impact diverse aspects of host physiology.•Functional
metagenomics of gut microbiomes validate their in vivo roles within hosts.•Bacterial genes …

Molecular phylogenetic studies reveal that many endosymbioses between bacteria and
invertebrate hosts result from ancient infections followed by strict vertical transmission within …

The prevailing consensus in scientific literature underscores the mutualistic bond between
the microbiota and the human host, suggesting a finely tuned coevolutionary partnership …

The changing notion of “companion animals” and their increasing global status as family
members underscores the dynamic interaction between gut microbiota and host health. This …

The vertebrate gut harbors a coevolved consortium of microbes that plays critical roles in the
development and health of this organ. Here we discuss recent insights into the microbial …

It has long been recognized that microbial symbionts can affect hosts in many ways
[eg,(Turnbaugh et al., 2006; Frank et al., 2007; Wen et al., 2008; Engel and Moran, 2013)] …

Since its beginnings over 1 billion years ago, the process of metazoan evolution has taken
place largely within the sea, the environment in which all known animal phyla first appeared …

Animals evolved in a world dominated by microbes. While pathogenic microbes have long
been appreciated as the cause of infectious diseases, only more recently have we …