RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Getting the Hologenome Concept Right: An Eco-Evolutionary Framework for Hosts and Their Microbiomes
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 038596
DO 10.1101/038596
A1 Kevin R. Theis
A1 Nolwenn M. Dheilly
A1 Jonathan L. Klassen
A1 Robert M. Brucker
A1 John F. Baines
A1 Thomas C.G. Bosch
A1 John F. Cryan
A1 Scott F. Gilbert
A1 Charles J. Goodnight
A1 Elisabeth A. Lloyd
A1 Jan Sapp
A1 Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse
A1 Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg
A1 Eugene Rosenberg
A1 Seth R. Bordenstein
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/03/08/038596.abstract
AB 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 that the hologenome concept has always embraced multi-level selection. Holobionts and hologenomes are incontrovertible, multipartite entities that result from ecological, evolutionary and genetic processes at varying levels. They are not restricted to one special process but constitute a wider vocabulary and framework for host biology in light of the microbiome.