Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Social behavior and the microbiome

Publication ,  Journal Article
Archie, EA; Tung, J
Published in: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
December 1, 2015

Animals are home to diverse bacterial communities that can affect their hosts' physiology, metabolism, and susceptibility to disease. Here we highlight recent research that reveals surprising and important connections between an individual's microbiome and its social behavior. We focus on two recent discoveries: (i) that social interactions can affect the taxonomic and genic composition of animal microbiomes, with consequences for microbiome function and potentially host fitness, and (ii) that microbiomes can affect host social behavior by producing chemical signals used in social communication and by directly influencing host nervous systems. Investigating the reciprocal relationships between host behavior and the microbiome thus promises to shed new light on both the evolution of host social behavior and microbial transmission strategies.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

DOI

EISSN

2352-1546

Publication Date

December 1, 2015

Volume

6

Start / End Page

28 / 34

Related Subject Headings

  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Archie, E. A., & Tung, J. (2015). Social behavior and the microbiome. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 6, 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.07.008
Archie, E. A., and J. Tung. “Social behavior and the microbiome.” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 6 (December 1, 2015): 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.07.008.
Archie EA, Tung J. Social behavior and the microbiome. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 2015 Dec 1;6:28–34.
Archie, E. A., and J. Tung. “Social behavior and the microbiome.” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, vol. 6, Dec. 2015, pp. 28–34. Scopus, doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.07.008.
Archie EA, Tung J. Social behavior and the microbiome. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 2015 Dec 1;6:28–34.
Journal cover image

Published In

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

DOI

EISSN

2352-1546

Publication Date

December 1, 2015

Volume

6

Start / End Page

28 / 34

Related Subject Headings

  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1701 Psychology