Chapter 10 - Understanding virus–bacteria–human tripartite interactions: strategies and challenges

Abstract

Human gut is densely populated with the microbial species including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and virus, from the gut ecosystem. The hidden component of the gut microbiome is its viral part, gut virome, attributed as “biological dark matter.” Virome is the complete collection of viruses or virus-like particles present in a gut ecosystem. It constitutes a vast number of prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses, majority of which are bacteriophages. The phages have major influence on the gut health, as they control the bacterial population, and are also involved in modifying their microbial host. The phage-microbial cross talk plays important role in human health and disease. The current study focuses on the tripartite relationship among gut virome, its host, and human. Further, the various emerging tools and techniques to explore the gut virome along with their methodological and conceptual limitations will be detailed. The knowledge on gut virome will help in the better understanding of its contribution in host health and application in disease therapy.