title: Peaceful mutualism in the gut: revealing key commensal bacteria for the creation and maintenance of immunological homeostasis.
abstract: Quantitative and qualitative aspects of commensal bacteria determine the active and quiescent status of host immunity. In a recent Science paper, Atarashi et al. (2011) identify Clostridium clusters IV and XIVa as indigenous commensal bacteria that induce regulatory T cells for the creation and maintenance of immunological homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. kunisawa@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kunisawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kiyono