看不见的手：微生物组在蚊媒疾病中的隐藏作用

Microbiota have a hidden role in mosquito-borne disease Yibin Zhu M osquito-borne diseases do not arise from a single biologi- cal interaction. They emerge from a chain of encounters linking pathogens, hosts, vectors, and environments (1, 2). Early in my work on mosquito-borne viruses, most efforts to interrupt this chain focused on its most visible components: the virus that causes disease or the mosquito that trans- mits it. I realized how explanations often stopped at the virus or the mosquito, leaving much of the biology in between unexplored. Dense and diverse microbial communities that colonize both hosts and vectors may represent the critical missing link in this chain. The microbiota is now recognized as a functional extension of the host. …