Mammalian microbiomes

Abstract

Endothermic (an organism that maintains its body at a metabolically favourable temperature) amniotes (who lay their eggs on land or retain the fertilised egg within the mother), also known as mammals, count among their cohort the largest (whales) and the most intelligent (some primates, cetaceans and elephants) animals on Earth. However, none of the 5488 mammalian species live alone since they all support a complex menagerie of microbes including prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea), microbial eukaryotes, and viruses. That so-called ‘microbiome’ plays myriad roles ranging from the very well known and well studied (disease) through to provocative involvements (mood alteration and brain activity). Indeed even the microbiome has been subdivided by some into the bacteriome, the mycobiome and the virome. It is very timely that this issue be devoted to mammalian microbiomes since the study of microbiomes is going through an unprecedented revolution due to current and projected capabilities to generate metagenome sequences, determine metatranscriptomic, metaproteomic and metametabolomic information and crucially, analyse the deluge of data and interpret findings ecologically. The novel procedures are broadly in the economic realm of numerous researchers, but many do pose considerable technical challenges. The practical outcomes for host species and their environments are diverse.