Another new study takes a further step toward revealing the pervasive influence microbial communities that inhabit plants and animals have on their biology. Scientists in the US have discovered that the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri regulates the daily rhythm of its host, the Hawaiian bobtail squid, by interacting with its clock genes.

mBio

a microbe regulating the circadian rhythm of its host

vitamins

the genes in the human gut’s microbiome vastly outnumber the 23,000 or so genes in the human genome

gut bacteria are part of a complex system that maintains the body’s blood pressuregut bacteria of people with type 2 diabetes





jet lag

seasonal affective disorder



Euprymna scolopes



V. fischeri



Vibrio fischeri



“Instead of environmental light, this animal responds and cycles in response to the luminescence from its own light organ,”