Microbial community assembly remains largely unexplored in marine mammals, despite its potential importance for conservation and management. Here, neonatal microbiota assembly was studied in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina richardii ) at a rehabilitation facility soon after maternal separation, through weaning, to the time of release back to their native environment. We found that the gingival and rectal communities of rehabili...

Preterm birth is the leading cause of mortality in children under the age of five worldwide. Despite major efforts, we still lack the ability to accurately predict and effectively prevent preterm birth. While multiple factors contribute to preterm labor, dysregulations of immunological adaptations required for the maintenance of a healthy pregnancy is at its pathophysiological core. Consequently, a precise understanding of the...

Summary Explorations of human microbiota have provided substantial insight into microbial community composition; however, little is known about interactions between various microbial components in human ecosystems. In response to the powerful impact of viral predation, bacteria have acquired potent defences, including an adaptive immune response based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs)/C...