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The Ontology of the Holobiont
- 1. HIGHLIGHTS About author: https://stenceladrian.com/ Full project description: https://cldup.com/dN7r971QH3.pdf
- 2. Symbiotic microorganisms perform a variety of functions that years ago were ascribed to their multicellular hosts (e.g. Shreiner et al. 2015): a) Digestion of nutrients (e.g. Ley et al. 2006), b) Defence against pathogens (e.g. Shreiner et al. 2015), c) Development of the immune system (e.g. Mazmanian et al. 2005) d) Functioning of the nervous system (e.g. Carabotti et al. 2015) d) …
- 3. Multicellular organisms, in combination with their symbiotic microorganisms, constitute holobionts– multi-species beings.
- 4. Many people are not happy with the idea that we are some sort of multi-species beings… … it stems from their belief that in the majority of cases microbial cells are more similar to substances such as oxygen, gravity or water than they are to our own cells, and thus should be considered part of the environment.
- 5. #TeamEnvironment „Like physical conditions, associated organisms can be considered as part of the environment and thus can be sources of natural selection, affecting evolution in each lineage.” (Moran and Sloan 2015 p. see as well: Chiu and Eberl 2016, Douglas and Werren ` 2016, Skillings 2016, Bourrat and Griffiths 2018)
- 6. Others are, however, happy with the idea that we are some sort of multi-species beings… … it stems from their belief that in the majority of cases microbial cells are very similar to the host cells, and thus should be considered part of the organism.
- 7. #TeamHost „Thus, considering the ability to influence the function of distal organs and systems, in many respects, the gut microbiota resembles an endocrine organ” (Clarke et al. 2014, p. 1221 (see as well: Bordenstein and Theis 2015, Stencel and Proszewska, 2018, Triviño and Suárez 2020, Boem et al. 2021)
- 8. This raises the question: which view is correct? a) Symbiotic microorganisms are more similar to the environment? b) Symbiotic microorganisms are more similar to the host cells?
- 9. The aim of the project … … to defend the idea that symbiotic microorganisms are more like host cells than like elements of the environment. Therefore, the project aims to deliver the ontology of the holobiont, the symbiotic ‘furniture of the world’, to show how elements of the living world should be classified within the holobiont paradigm.