title: Know your neighbor: Microbiota and host epithelial cells interact locally to control intestinal function and physiology.
abstract: Interactions between the host and its associated microbiota differ spatially and the local cross talk determines organ function and physiology. Animals and their organs are not uniform but contain several functional and cellular compartments and gradients. In the intestinal tract, different parts of the gut carry out different functions, tissue structure varies accordingly, epithelial cells are differentially distributed and gradients exist for several physicochemical parameters such as nutrients, pH, or oxygen. Consequently, the microbiota composition also differs along the length of the gut, but also between lumen and mucosa of the same intestinal segment, and even along the crypt-villus axis in the epithelium. Thus, host-microbiota interactions are highly site-specific and the local cross talk determines intestinal function and physiology. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of site-specific host-microbiota interactions and discuss their functional relevance for host physiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, The Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.|Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.|Center of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, The Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.|Faculty of Health Sciences, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Section for Metabolic Receptology and Enteroendocrinology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bäckhed
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000472:pathogenicity; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000473:pathology; D003092:Colitis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D004032:Diet; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D064806:Dysbiosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology
keywords: host-microbe interactions; intestine; microbiota; physiology; site-specific