Abstract
Until recently, parasitic infections have been primarily studied as interactions between the parasite and the host, leaving out crucial players: microbes. The recent realization that microbes play key roles in the biology of all living organisms is not only challenging our understanding of host-parasite evolution, but it also provides new clues to develop new therapies and remediation strategies. In this paper we provide a review of promising and advanced experimental organismal systems to examine the dynamic of host-parasite-microbe interactions. We address the benefits of developing new experimental models appropriate to this new research area and identify systems that offer the best promises considering the nature of the interactions among hosts, parasites, and microbes. Based on these systems, we identify key criteria for selecting experimental models to elucidate the fundamental principles of these complex webs of interactions. It appears that no model is ideal and that complementary studies should be performed on different systems in order to understand the driving roles of microbes in host and parasite evolution.
Highlights
The term ‘symbiosis’ was first coined by Albert Bernhardt Frank in 1877, when he described the relationship between fungi and algae in lichens, and was used to define “the living together of unlike organisms” by de Bary (1879) and Theis et al (2016)
We would like to emphasize that it is crucial to investigate the role of community of microbes as well as individual microbial symbionts
Microbes may independently, synergistically, or antagonistically impact and participate in the physiology and evolution of their hosts it is of particular importance to develop models where it is possible to intimately manipulate the host and parasite microbiomes to alter their composition
Summary
The term ‘symbiosis’ (from Greek “living together”) was first coined by Albert Bernhardt Frank in 1877, when he described the relationship between fungi and algae in lichens, and was used to define “the living together of unlike organisms” by de Bary (1879) and Theis et al (2016). This has led to a better understanding of the pluralistic role of microbes in host defense and to new theories of parasite virulence strategies driven by their interaction with microbes (Dheilly et al, 2015b).
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