Animals are populated by diverse communities of symbiotic microbes. Indeed, most of the cells and unique genes associated with animals’ bodies are of microbial origin, and animals have potential access to the products of these genes. Certainly some symbiotic microbes are pathogenic, and many others are inconsequential (i.e. commensal), but a significant remainder are beneficial to their hosts. For example, symbiotic microbes are critical contributors to animal nutrition and immune health, and they can serve as important catalysts for the effective development and functioning of animal tissues. As a consequence of these realizations, biologists are increasingly asserting that animals and their symbiotic microbes are best perceived as emergent individuals, that is, as holobionts rather than as autonomous entities (see PMIDs 26284777 and 27822520). Our laboratory takes a hologenomic approach to investigating pathogenic and beneficial host-microbiome interactions within the realms of medicine and behavior.
IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING MICROBIAL ETIOLOGIES OF THE GREAT OBSTETRICAL SYNDROMES
Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Fifteen million premature neonates are born annually and urban environments typically have the highest preterm birth rates. For instance, Detroit, MI, where we live and work, has the highest rate of preterm birth in the United States, at 15.1%. Intra-amniotic infection is one etiology of preterm birth for which definitive causation has been established, and the principal source of these invading microorganisms is the vaginal ecosystem. Nevertheless, many of these infections are subclinical and we lack efficacious predictive biomarkers of the vaginal microbiome for preterm birth risk. A focus of our laboratory is studying the microbial ecology of the human reproductive tract to identify and ultimately manage polymicrobial causes of preterm birth and other obstetric complications.
This research has previously been conducted within the Perinatology Research Branch of the NICHD in collaboration with Dr. Roberto Romero (Perinatology) and the laboratories of Dr. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez (Maternal-Fetal Immunology) and Dr. Adi Tarca (Bioinformatics & Computational Biology) in the Wayne State University School of Medicine. We are now actively establishing additional collaborations and recruiting new team members, so if interested, please contact us.
ELUCIDATING HOW THE MICROBIOME SHAPES ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND HOW ANIMAL BEHAVIOR RECIPROCALLY SHAPES THE MICROBIOME
Behavior is the primary means animals have for mediating their circumstances within the dynamic physical and social environments they inhabit. Therefore, behavior can be a primary target of natural and sexual selection. It is becoming increasingly clear that symbiotic microbes can substantially contribute to animals’ behavioral phenotypes. For example, they can protect their hosts from predators, increase their foraging efficiencies and reproductive outputs, and serve as the integrated machinery behind their chemical communication systems — the principal way animals communicate!. Our laboratory uses a comparative, multi-omics approach to elucidate and evaluate the functional and developmental ramifications of animals’ relationships with odor-producing symbiotic microbes. Our laboratory also investigates how animal social behavior, at individual and landscape levels, influences the structure and function of microbiomes in ways that translate to disease ecology.
This research continues to be conducted in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Kay Holekamp (Behavioral Ecology) at Michigan State University. Yet, we are actively establishing additional collaborations and recruiting new team members, so if interested, please contact us.
Kevin R. Theis, Ph.D. 