Gut Virome and Human Health

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Background

Viruses are an important component of the human intestinal microbiota. Together with other microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, they constitute a complex and dynamical micro-ecosystem that profoundly affects the health of the organism. In addition to typical eukaryotic viral infections that cause disease and induce the host immune responses, phages, which account for the majority of commensal viruses in human bodies, are capable of altering people’s physiological states directly or indirectly by encoding functional genes such as platelet-binding factors, regulating the host gene expression or preying on bacteria, and regulating the composition of intestinal microbiota. Investigations of the enteric virus were hampered by several challenges including the inability to isolate and culture viruses on a large scale, the lack of marker genes like bacterial 16S rRNA, the small number of reference genomes, and the high frequency of mutations. However, in recent years, researchers have attempted to overcome these challenges with the support of metagenomic and viromic technologies and new algorithms. A large number of new symbiotic viruses have been discovered, and the human viral reservoir has been continuously expanded, which helps generate a clearer picture of enteric virus communities and their close association with human health.

This Research Topic aims to 1) generate and analyze gut virome data, 2) discover the interaction patterns between viruses and other types of microorganisms in human intestinal tracts, 3) explore their regulatory effects on the structure and function of intestinal micro-ecology, 4) supplement data resources of virome, and 5) identify human commensal microorganisms more widely. This topic will also focus on revealing the alterations of gut virome under various disease states and its influence on host physiology and health; tracking the dynamics of the virome in a patient's gut under the perturbation of drugs and other interventions. It is purposely designed to help better understand the pathogenicity of enteroviruses, their response to physiological changes, their feedback to the host, and their impact on therapeutic efficacy, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the important roles that viruses play in maintaining or compromising human health.

We welcome research on but not limited to the following sub-themes:

• This Research Topic is oriented towards the enteric virome of digestive and systemic diseases, both before and after interventions, to reveal the characteristics of viromic changes in populations under various pathological conditions and discover common patterns of the gut virome corresponding to different diseases and treatments.

• The use of ecological or statistical models is encouraged to explore the interactions of phages and eukaryotic viruses with other microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, in the human gut and elucidate the mechanisms of intestinal microecological balance and disorders.

• We would like to see studies on the relationship between the enterovirus and host gene expression and metabolism, especially on the dynamics of viral activity in the human gut and the potential impact of viral transcription and proliferation on host physiology and health.

• Papers for developing novel algorithms or tools applicable to virome data mining to identify and collect new phage and viral genomes and building databases of gut viruses relevant to human health are also welcome.

Keywords: Intestinal tract, Virus, Phage, Metagenomics, Disease

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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