Phenotype Heritability in Holobionts: An Evolutionary Model.

Many complex diseases are expressed with high incidence only in certain populations. Genealogy studies determine that these diseases are inherited with a high probability. However, genetic studies have been unable to identify the genomic signatures responsible for such heritability, as identifying the genetic variants that make a population prone to a given disease is not enough to explain its high occurrence within the population.

Modeling the Role of the Microbiome in Evolution.

There is undeniable evidence showing that bacteria have strongly influenced the evolution and biological functions of multicellular organisms. It has been hypothesized that many host-microbial interactions have emerged so as to increase the adaptive fitness of the (the host plus its microbiota). Although this association has been corroborated for many specific cases, general mechanisms explaining the role of the microbiota in the evolution of the host are yet to be understood.