title: A Commensal Protozoan Strikes a Balance in the Gut.
abstract: Gut commensals profoundly affect host immunity and intestinal homeostasis, but the impact of commensal eukaryotic protozoans is poorly understood. In a recent Cell paper, Chudnovskiy et al. (2016) identify a commensal protozoan, Tritrichomonas musculis, that can enhance anti-bacterial defenses, but at the cost of increasing intestinal inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: png.loke@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: P'ng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Loke
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: limailian@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Yvonne A L
authors.initials: YAL
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D006706:Homeostasis / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology*; D007422:Intestines / Q000276:immunology*