The microbiome shapes many host traits, yet the biology of microbiomes challenges
traditional evolutionary models. Here, we illustrate how integrating the microbiome into …

Mammalian gut microbiomes profoundly influence host fitness, but the processes that drive
the evolution of host-microbiome systems are poorly understood. Recent studies suggest …

Research on animal–microbiota interactions has become a central topic in biological
sciences because of its relevance to basic eco-evolutionary processes and applied …

BACKGROUND When human populations expanded across the globe, they adapted
genetically to local environments in response to novel selection pressures. Drivers of …

Microbiome breeding is a new artificial selection technique that seeks to change the genetic
composition of microbiomes in order to benefit plant or animal hosts. Recent experimental …

Humans, and many other species, are host to diverse symbionts. It is often suggested that
the mutual benefits of host-microbe relationships can alone explain cooperative evolution …

How and when the microbiome modulates host adaptation remains an evolutionary puzzle,
despite evidence that the extended genetic repertoire of the microbiome can shape host …

Host-associated microbiomes influence their host's fitness in myriad ways and can be
viewed as a source of phenotypic plasticity. This plasticity may allow the host to …

That humans might undergo future evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs) seems
fanciful. However, drawing upon recent thinking concerning the origins of properties that …

The theory of evolution by natural selection is, perhaps, the crowning intellectual
achievement of the biological sciences. There is considerable debate, though, about which …