Pathobiont

A '''pathobiont''' is an organism that is native to the host's microbiome that under certain environmental or genetic changes can become pathogenic and induce disease.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Jochum |first1=Lara |last2=Stecher |first2=Bärbel |date=October 2020 |title=Label or Concept – What Is a Pathobiont? |journal=Trends in Microbiology |volume=28 |issue=10 |pages=789–792 |doi=10.1016/j.tim.2020.04.011 |pmid=32376073 |s2cid=218532205 |issn=0966-842X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Pathobionts differ from opportunistic pathogens in the sense that they are normally native to the microbiome, where opportunistic pathogens are acquired from outside that microbiome.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chow |first1=Janet |last2=Tang |first2=Haiqing |last3=Mazmanian |first3=Sarkis K. |date=August 2011 |title=Pathobionts of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Inflammatory Disease |journal=Current Opinion in Immunology |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=473–480 |doi=10.1016/j.coi.2011.07.010 |issn=0952-7915 |pmc=3426444 |pmid=21856139}}</ref>

== Etymology == The term was originally coined in 2008 by Sarkis Mazmanian to describe ''Helicobacter hepaticus'' and its ability to cause colitis under certain environmental conditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mazmanian |first1=Sarkis K. |last2=Round |first2=June L. |last3=Kasper |first3=Dennis L. |date=May 2008 |title=A microbial symbiosis factor prevents intestinal inflammatory disease |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07008 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=453 |issue=7195 |pages=620–625 |doi=10.1038/nature07008 |pmid=18509436 |bibcode=2008Natur.453..620M |s2cid=205213521 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The term ''pathobiont'' had mixed reception among the microbiology field. The main argument against using the term is that some bacteria labelled as pathobionts also exhibit beneficial effects to hosts under normal conditions.<ref name=":0" /> The notion that their pathogenesis is tied to environmental or genetic changes from a perceived normal state would point to a firm understanding of a normal gut microbiome, which can vary drastically.<ref name=":0" /> Arguers against the term state all bacteria have metabolism that are environmentally dependent, and even symbionts have been shown to exhibit deleterious clinical effects under certain conditions.<ref name=":0" /> The argument has led to the development of a proposed term, ''pathogenic potential'', to describe a microbe's ability to cause disease.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Casadevall |first=Arturo |date=February 22, 2017 |editor-last=Alspaugh |editor-first=J. Andrew |title=The Pathogenic Potential of a Microbe |journal=mSphere |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |doi=10.1128/mSphere.00015-17 |doi-access=free|issn=2379-5042 |pmc=5322344 |pmid=28251180}}</ref> Both terms are currently used within the field.

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Microbiomes Category:Pathogenic bacteria Category:Pathogenic microbes