Co-infection and symbiont interactions

Besides harbouring a community of symbiotic bacteria, most animals also play host to a dynamic and fluctuating community of other organisms, including protozoa, fungi and helminths.

But to what extent are co-infecting symbionts affecting one another, and can we detect this? Do common parasitic infections alter the prokaryotic microbiome, and does the microbiome play an important role in modulating susceptibility to eukaryotic infections? We are interested in addressing these questions, using both wild systems and controlled experiments.

References

1. Leung JM, Graham AL, Knowles SCL. Parasite-microbiota interactions with the vertebrate gut: synthesis through an ecological lens. Front Microbiol 2018; 9: 843.
2. Knowles SCL, Fenton A, Petchey OL, Jones TR, Barber R, Pedersen AB. Stability of within-host-parasite communities in a wild mammal system. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 2013; 280: 20130598.