Getting the Hologenome Concept Right: an Eco-Evolutionary Framework for Hosts and Their Microbiomes.
Given the complexity of host-microbiota symbioses, scientists and philosophers are asking questions at new biological levels of hierarchical organization-what is a holobiont and hologenome? When should this vocabulary be applied? Are these concepts a null hypothesis for host-microbe systems or limited to a certain spectrum of symbiotic interactions such as host-microbial coevolution? Critical discourse is necessary in this nascent area, but productive discourse requires that skeptics and proponents use the same lexicon. For instance, critiquing the hologenome concept is not synonymous with critiquing coevolution, and arguing that an entity is not a primary unit of selection dismisses the fact that the hologenome concept has always embraced multilevel selection. Holobionts and hologenomes are incontrovertible, multipartite entities that result from ecological, evolutionary, and genetic processes at various levels. They are not restricted to one special process but constitute a wider vocabulary and framework for host biology in light of the microbiome.
Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA; Wayne State University Perinatal Initiative, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Kevin R
0000-0002-8690-7599
KR
Theis
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Nolwenn M
0000-0002-3675-5013
NM
Dheilly
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.
Jonathan L
0000-0003-1745-8838
JL
Klassen
The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Robert M
0000-0002-0854-848X
RM
Brucker
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany; Institute for Experimental Medicine, Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
John F
0000-0002-8132-4909
JF
Baines
Zoological Institute, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany.
Thomas C G
TC
Bosch
Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; APC Microbiome Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
John F
0000-0001-5887-2723
JF
Cryan
Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA.
Scott F
SF
Gilbert
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
Charles J
0000-0002-9938-7553
CJ
Goodnight
History and Philosophy of Science Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Elisabeth A
0000-0001-9349-9805
EA
Lloyd
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Jan
J
Sapp
Université de Rennes 1, CNRS, UMR6553 EcoBio, Rennes, France.
Philippe
0000-0003-3029-4647
P
Vandenkoornhuyse
Independent Researcher, Givat Shmuel, Israel.
Ilana
I
Zilber-Rosenberg
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Eugene
E
Rosenberg
Departments of Biological Sciences and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Seth R
0000-0001-7346-0954
SR
Bordenstein
ecology; evolution; hologenome; microbiome