David Gerlach (@dger.bsky.social)

Interesting opinion article arguing for the word "symbiont" instead of the term "commensal. How would the term "pathosymbiont fit in this nomenclature? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

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mGem: Tapping into the language of symbiosis to advance human microbiome research | mBio An overarching goal in microbiome research is to understand how the complex communities in our bodies contribute to health and disease, and ultimately, we aim to leverage and control these communities to promote health. To continue advancing this work, we need conceptual frameworks that aid in understanding the relationships between us and our microbiota. Conceptual frameworks can ensure that we avoid doing our science in silos by unifying work across disciplines, and they can help form hypotheses and questions for future research. In human microbiome research, there have been various conceptual frameworks that have advanced our science (1–4). In this perspective, we highlight the symbiosis framework and definitions in connection to microbiome research, with the hope that adoption of this framework will advance our ability to study the human microbiome. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03661-25