Life in a World without Microbes

Jack A Gilbert; Josh D Neufeld

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002020

Life in a World without Microbes

PLoS Biol. 2014 Dec 16;12(12):e1002020. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002020. eCollection 2014 Dec.

Authors

Jack A Gilbert¹, Josh D Neufeld²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Genomic and Systems Biology, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, United States of America; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America; Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States of America; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

Life in a world without microbes Can a macrorganism survive without commensal microbes in a world of microbes? What would happen if all microbes on earth suddenly disappeared?

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Archaea / metabolism*
Bacteria / metabolism*
Germ-Free Life
Humans
Life*

Grants and funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada