Interview with Francisco Guarner: gut microbiota and us

Experiencing that sinking feeling in your gut when anxiety kicks in or feeling butterflies in your stomach when you fall in love are visible signals of the brain-gut connection. Emerging evidence suggests understanding the microbiota-gut-brain axis could be the missing key in managing IBS.

The bacteria that make up our gut microbiota lead a very active social life: they communicate and collaborate with each other, but also compete and keep each other in check. To a great extent, our health depends on this communication between them and with our cells. Hence, understanding how they relate to each other will be key to advancing toward the personalized medicine of the future.

Most research on the role of gut microbiota in the gut-brain axis has focused on bacteria, while fungi living inside the gut have been overlooked. What do we know about the role of gut fungi in the communication between the gut and the brain?