Microbial colonization in sea anemones used to understand transcriptomic response to drugs, researchers find

23 Nov 2023 — A German research team headed by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has investigated the intestinal functioning of a sea anemone — Nematostella vectensis or cnidaria — to see how the microbiome develops with its host and established that the degradation of the polysaccharide chitin plays a central role for the initial colonizers. Initial colonization with the right microbes can illuminate ways to train the adaptive immune systems of humans from birth onward.