The Epistemic Revolution Induced by Microbiome Studies: An Interdisciplinary View

Abstract

Many separate fields and practices nowadays consider microbes as part of their legitimate focus. Therefore, microbiome studies may act as unexpected unifying forces across very different disciplines. Here, we summarize how microbiomes appear as novel major biological players, offer new artistic frontiers, new uses from medicine to laws, and inspire novel ontologies. We identify several convergent emerging themes across ecosystem studies, microbial and evolutionary ecology, arts, medicine, forensic analyses, law and philosophy of science, as well as some outstanding issues raised by microbiome studies across these disciplines and practices. An ‘epistemic revolution induced by microbiome studies’ seems to be ongoing, characterized by four features: (i) an ecologization of pre-existing concepts within disciplines, (ii) a growing interest in systemic analyses of the investigated or represented phenomena and a greater focus on interactions as their root causes, (iii) the intent to use openly multi-scalar interaction networks as an explanatory framework to investigate phenomena to acknowledge the causal effects of microbiomes, (iv) a reconceptualization of the usual definitions of which individuals are worth considering as an explanans or as an explanandum by a given field, which result in a fifth strong trend, namely (v) a de-anthropocentrification of our perception of the world.

Diet-gut microbiota interactions on cardiovascular disease

“…The gut microbiota, the most abundant microbial community living in the human body, has recently been considered an indispensable “invisible organ” that regulates essential functions of host physiology, including nutrients transformation and metabolism, maintenance of intestinal barrier integrity and host immunity homeostasis [1] , [2] , [3] . Numerous studies indicated that dietary nutrient intake, as a key environmental factor impacting gut microbiota composition, can induce “dysbiosis” which is defined as an altered microbial community including richness, diversity and composition.…”

It is time to authenticate the Microbiome Sciences with accredited educational programs and departments

“…The answer is no. It does not simply fit into any one of those boxes, but rather it is the nexus of those and several other fields, thereby making it a unique synthesis-an intricate composite of field, wet lab, theoretical, and computational work aimed at decoding microbial interactions with hosts and with each other [11,12]. Similarly, microbiome researchers often experience a limbo in expertise, relating to the Shakespearean phrase, "a jack of all trades, a master of none."…”

The Eco-evolutionary Significance of Turion Reactivation in Greater Duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza

“…Furthermore, trait evolution may affect ecology in such a way that it causes further evolutionary change, resulting in a feedback loop (Becks et al, 2012;Turcotte, Reznick & Hare, 2013;Croll, Egas, & Smallegange, 2019). Eco-evolutionary dynamics is increasingly recognized as an important perspective for its contributions to understanding applied problems in fields like medicine (Stearns, 2018;Bapteste et al, 2021;Gogarten, 2022) and conservation biology (Kinnison & Hairston, 2007;Correa et al, 2015;Kreitzman et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2022).…”