Symbiosis in the human gastrointestinal tract

Abstract

The human body is a planet populated by myriads of microorganisms all over its surface and in cavities connected to the outside. Experimental and clinical research is showing that microbial colonizers are a functional and essential part of the human organism. The microbial ecosystem, which is housed in the gastrointestinal tract, provides a "metagenome": genes and additional functions to the genetic resources of the species, which are involved in multiple physiological processes (somatic development, nutrition, immunity, etc.). The human intestine houses lymphoid structures specialized in the induction and regulation of adaptive immunity, and the interaction of the intestinal microbiota with the immune system of the digestive mucosa plays a key role for the individual's homeostasis with the outside world. Some chronic non-communicable inflammatory diseases in developed society are associated with dysbiosis: loss of species richness in the gut microbiota and deviation from the ancestral microbial environment. Generating and maintaining diversity in the gut microbiota is a new clinical goal for health promotion and disease prevention.