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Editorial
. 2017 Jan 15;595(2):433-435.
doi: 10.1113/JP273451.

Influence of the microbiota on host physiology - moving beyond the gut

Kim E Barrett  1 , Gary D Wu  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Influence of the microbiota on host physiology - moving beyond the gut

Kim E Barrett et al. J Physiol. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Physiological effects of diverse microbiota
The microbiota that inhabits a given body site is a diverse collection of microbes (central oval) whose composition is established by the influences of a variety of factors, including those shown on the left‐hand side of the figure. (Note that the microbiota may also, in turn, further influence at least some of those conditions, such as pH (not shown).) Although the precise make‐up of the microbiota in a given body site may be distinctive, the collective microbiota tends to encode a comparable set of metabolic capabilities, leading to the production of common small molecules that can influence physiological functions both locally and, via the bloodstream or effects on nerve endings, more distantly. Various tissue microbiota also share the ability to shape local immune responses and to protect the niche that they inhabit from colonization by pathogens.
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