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. 2020 Aug 14;8(1):117.
doi: 10.1186/s40168-020-00898-7.

"Microbiota, symbiosis and individuality summer school" meeting report

Isobel Ronai  1 , Gregor P Greslehner  2 , Federico Boem  3 , Judith Carlisle  4 , Adrian Stencel  5 , Javier Suárez  6 , Saliha Bayir  7 , Wiebke Bretting  8 , Joana Formosinho  9 , Anna C Guerrero  10 , William H Morgan  11 , Cybèle Prigot-Maurice  12 , Salome Rodeck  13 , Marie Vasse  14 , Jacqueline M Wallis  15 , Oryan Zacks  16
Affiliations

"Microbiota, symbiosis and individuality summer school" meeting report

Isobel Ronai et al. Microbiome. .

Abstract

How does microbiota research impact our understanding of biological individuality? We summarize the interdisciplinary summer school on "Microbiota, symbiosis and individuality: conceptual and philosophical issues" (July 2019), which was supported by a European Research Council starting grant project "Immunity, DEvelopment, and the Microbiota" (IDEM). The summer school centered around interdisciplinary group work on four facets of microbiota research: holobionts, individuality, causation, and human health. The conceptual discussion of cutting-edge empirical research provided new insights into microbiota and highlights the value of incorporating into meetings experts from other disciplines, such as philosophy and history of science. Video Abstract.

Keywords: Conceptual analysis; Downward causation; Ecology; History of biology; Holistic; Holobiont; Hologenome; Microbiome; Philosophy of biology; Physiological individuals.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
All participants of the summer school. Front row (from left to right): Linh-Phuong Nguyen, Cybèle Prigot-Maurice, Jacqueline M. Wallis, Thomas Pradeu. Back (from left to right): Guglielmo Militello, Marie Vasse, Isobel Ronai, Javier Suárez, Matt Sims, William H. Morgan, Joana Formosinho, Federico Boem, Gregor P. Greslehner, Adrian Stencel, Saliha Bayir, Scott Gilbert, Malthe Kouassi Bjerregaard, Oryan Zacks, Judith Carlisle, Anna C. Guerrero, Rob Knight, Jan Pieter Konsman, Alice Beck, Salome Rodeck, Quentin Hiernaux, Johannes Martens, Wiebke Bretting
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The physiological individuality continuum. The center of the spectrum represents the theoretical paradigm individual, the “chemoton.” Biological entities at the center are maximally individualistic in that they are less metabolically (or genetically) reliant on other organisms, and their barriers are minimally diffuse. As you move out from the center, biological entities become less individualistic, but for different reasons: biological entities on the left side of the spectrum lack individuality due to their metabolic (and/or genetic) reliance on other organisms. Biological entities on the right side of the spectrum lack individuality due to their diffuse barriers
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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