Host sex and genotype modify the gut microbiome response to helminth infection

Abstract

2 0 and D.I.B. (email: 9 1 helminth infection, such as the maternally transmitted bacterium Spiroplasma that protects 9 2 Drosophila neotestacea against nematode parasitism [7], or Bifdobacterium animalis that 9 3 protects mice against Strongyloides venezuelensis infection [8]. A recent study demonstrated that 9 4 T.muris infection altered the gut microbiota in mice, and inhibited subsequent rounds of infection 9 5 [9]. Conversely, Lactobacillus facilitates H. polygyrus and T. muris infections in mice [10, 11]. 6These opposing findings illustrate the inconsistent nature of helminth-microbiome interactions 9 7 within their shared hosts. What biological variables explain such heterogeneous results? If we 9 8can identify the causes of these variable helminth-microbe associations, then we may be better 9 9 able to treat dysbiosis and/or macroparasite infections [12][13][14].