Evolution in the Gut in Health and Disease

Introduction

The mammalian gut is an exquisite system to study the ecology and evolution of microbes, and these processes are key for host-microbiome homeostasis. How microbiome diversity is maintained or lost is a critical question underlying the proper balance of this duet. Yet, our knowledge of the eco-evolutionary mechanisms structuring microbiomes is still in its infancy.

Research Objectives

Here, we seek to identify dominant modes of natural selection and host factors that modulate the evolution of their microbes. By leveraging knowledge on gene functions in specific strains and the power of mouse genetics and husbandry, we will unravel how natural selection operates to shape diversity in the bacteria that inhabit the guts of healthy and sick hosts.

Methodology

Microbiome evolution will be studied in several mouse models of disease with a focus on Escherichia coli as a pathobiont model, for which a deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms in health vs disease can be reached.

1. Using long-term experimental evolution in vivo
2. High-throughput sequencing
3. Theoretical modelling

We will quantify the relative roles of directional, diversifying, and fluctuating selection in gut evolution.

Hypotheses

We posit that resource competition drives the dominant selection mode in the healthy gut and that strong fluctuations in the environment, due to phage-bacteria co-evolution and/or due to host-microbe interactions, drive the selection mode in the gut of diseased hosts.

Expected Outcomes

We will further test the hypothesis that fluctuating selection leads to an Anna Karenina effect whereby the microbiomes of unhealthy individuals are much more distinct from one another than those of healthy ones. EvoInHi seeks to find the first empirical evidence that the predictability of evolution is higher in health than in disease, which will have a profound impact on understanding bacterial diversity and rates of specialization and how these can be used to modulate host health.