The health of the microbial community is associated with COVID-19 severity, but it’s not yet clear if the relationship is causal.

Work in rodents shows that the bacteria living in a mother’s gut can produce immunomodulatory metabolites and influence the production of maternal antibodies—both of which can affect her offspring’s development.

Bacteria in the gut influence the production of antibodies and themselves secrete metabolites. In a pregnant woman, these compounds may influence immune development of her fetus.

Immune-response levels to the edible vaccine varied among the subjects, possibly due to differences in the gut microbiome.

Bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of animals may influence the adaptive trajectories of their hosts.

A study of human populations around the world detects differing rates of horizontal gene transfer in the microbiome depending on what kind of society those people live in.

The results from two Phase 1 trials bolster the case that the gut microbiome plays a role in response to the drugs.

Recent research shows that the insect’s microbial community is central to protecting the hive from invaders—both big and small.

A review offers a glimpse of previously unconsidered variables that could hinder efforts to identify true correlations between disease and gut microbiome composition.

Tiny doses of maternal poo mixed with breast milk and given to Cesarean-born infants makes their gut microbiota resemble those of babies born vaginally.

Meet some of the people featured in the June 2020 issue of The Scientist.

The gut microbiome is more malleable in the first two years after birth, allowing probiotics to make their mark. Can we exploit this to improve infants’ health?

The microbial makeup of a newborn baby’s intestines has changed dramatically over the past 100 years, and we are now beginning to understand how and why this matters.

The BioCollective, a company that transforms whole stool samples into microbial metadata, is developing the US’s first national microbiome reference material.

A study uncovers connections between the bacteria in our guts and our social lives.

Recent work in humans and mice highlights how exposure to environmental microbes helps protect against allergies and other inflammatory diseases.

Oligomannate, recently approved in China, is being met with some skepticism from researchers.

Most of the viruses present in people’s guts are bacteriophages, but how they interact with resident bacteria is still an open question.

Antibiotics disrupt the immune response to the influenza vaccine in people who haven’t recently had exposure to the virus or immunization.