Review
Understanding complex host-microbe interactions in Hydra
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Pages 345 - 351
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/gmic.20660
Keywords: cnidaria, commensal microbiota, epithelial cells, innate immunity
Authors: Thomas C.G. Bosch
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Abstract:
Any multicellular organism may be considered a metaorganism or holobiont—comprised of the macroscopic host and synergistic interdependence with bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, and numerous other microbial and eukaryotic species including algal symbionts. Defining the individual microbe-host conversations in these consortia is a challenging but necessary step on the path to understanding the function of the associations as a whole. Dissecting the fundamental principles that underlie all host-microbe interactions requires simple animal models with only a few specific bacterial species. Here I present Hydra as such a model with one of the simplest epithelia in the animal kingdom, with the availability of a fully sequenced genome and numerous genomic tools, and with few associated bacterial species.
Received: January 1, 2012; Accepted: May 7, 2012; Published Online: June 12, 2012
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