Parasite Microbiome Project: Systematic Investigation of Microbiome Dynamics within and across Parasite-Host Interactions
Nolwenn M. Dheilly,
Daniel Bolnick,
Seth Bordenstein,
Paul J. Brindley,
Cédric Figuères,
Edward C. Holmes,
Joaquín Martínez Martínez,
Anna J. Phillips,
Robert Poulin,
Karyna Rosario
Affiliations
Nolwenn M. Dheilly
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
Daniel Bolnick
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Seth Bordenstein
Departments of Biological Sciences and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Paul J. Brindley
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine, Research Center for Neglected Diseases of Poverty, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Cédric Figuères
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
Edward C. Holmes
Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Joaquín Martínez Martínez
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, Maine, USA
Anna J. Phillips
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
Robert Poulin
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Karyna Rosario
College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
ABSTRACT Understanding how microbiomes affect host resistance, parasite virulence, and parasite-associated diseases requires a collaborative effort between parasitologists, microbial ecologists, virologists, and immunologists. We hereby propose the Parasite Microbiome Project to bring together researchers with complementary expertise and to study the role of microbes in host-parasite interactions. Data from the Parasite Microbiome Project will help identify the mechanisms driving microbiome variation in parasites and infected hosts and how that variation is associated with the ecology and evolution of parasites and their disease outcomes. This is a call to arms to prevent fragmented research endeavors, encourage best practices in experimental approaches, and allow reliable comparative analyses across model systems. It is also an invitation to foundations and national funding agencies to propel the field of parasitology into the microbiome/metagenomic era.
