Essay On Microbiota

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The symbiotic relationship between the microbiota and the host is the result of co-evolution over millions of years and therefore is generally mutually beneficial. This mutualistic relationship is very important for intestinal homeostasis and overall human health. An unhealthy “imbalance” of the microbiota, referred to as dysbiosis, has been shown to be correlated with a multitude of diseases, including infection, metabolic syndrome, cancer, neurological disorders and autoimmune disorders (Figure 3).134 Dysbiosis contributes to the initiation and progression of these diseases mainly by two mechanisms. First, the microbiota occupies the biological niches and prevents the invasion of foreign pathogens, while dysbiosis might provide space and the opportunity for those “harmful” microbial development, resulting in the failure of immunological tolerance or persistent inflammation in the intestine, which leads to infection or inflammation in the gut. Second, abnormal microbial products result from dysbiosis might trigger pathology of organ/tissues which are closely connected with gut, like liver, pancreas, lung and brain. Infection Commensal…show more content…
This pro-infection role of the microbiota has been demonstrated in many cases of enteric infection. For instance, poliovirus relies on the microbiota for efficient replication, mainly through binding to microbial products such as LPS. Similarly, the retrovirus mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) can bind to bacterial LPS, triggering TLR4 and subsequent induction of the inhibitory cytokine IL-10 and inducing an immune evasion pathway.143 In these studies, the elements accounting for efficient pathogen transmission are highly represented microbial products, which illustrates the fact that viruses and perhaps other pathogens have evolved to bypass commensal bacteria population shifts by thriving on ubiquitous microbial

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