Chuen

I’m grateful to @microbiomej.bsky.social for publishing this work. Many thanks to the editors and reviewers for their thoughtful feedback.

Scientists @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social including Leverhulme Early Career Fellow @sarahfworsley.bsky.social have uncovered a hidden link between gut health and the immune system – all thanks to a tiny island bird. link.springer.com/article/10.1... @springernature.com @david-s-richardson.bsky.social

Host immunogenetic variation and gut microbiome functionality in a wild vertebrate population - Microbiome Background The gut microbiome (GM) –important for host health and survival– is partially shaped by host immunogenetics. However, to date, no study has investigated the influence of host Major Histocom...

Thank you for sharing! It was a pleasure to work with @bioinf.bsky.social on this project.

Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1186/s401...

Host immunogenetic variation and gut microbiome functionality in a wild vertebrate population - Microbiome Background The gut microbiome (GM) –important for host health and survival– is partially shaped by host immunogenetics. However, to date, no study has investigated the influence of host Major Histocom...

Thank you for sharing!

Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1186/s401...

The researchers studied the Seychelles warbler and collected the birds' poo to analyse their gut bacteria and found that their immune genes influence which gut microbes thrive.

A small bird perches on a thin branch amid lush green leaves. Credit: Claire Lok Sze Tsui.

Prof David Richardson from @biouea.bsky.social has been the senior researcher on a study that has uncovered a hidden link between gut health and the immune system – all thanks to a tiny island bird.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4cIV4vs

#ResearchMatters #NewStudy #GutHealth

Island birds reveal surprising link between immunity and gut bacteria - Quadram Institute Scientists have uncovered a hidden link between gut health and the immune system – thanks to the Seychelles warbler, a small songbird found on Cousin Island in the Seychelles

🆕Scientists have uncovered a hidden link between gut health and the immune system – all thanks to a tiny island bird 🐦️

@uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @bioinf.bsky.social

buff.ly/gUZdSJ9

An exciting new paper from our very own @chuenlee.bsky.social: "How does the immune system shape the gut microbiome in wild animals?"

Well done, Chuen!
#UEAScience

7/ Thank you to the incredible team and funders who made this paper possible 🥳

@david-s-richardson.bsky.social @sarahfworsley.bsky.social @charlisdavies.bsky.social Jan Komdeur @bioinf.bsky.social @hannahdugdale.bsky.social

@biouea.bsky.social @norwichmicro.bsky.social @nrpdtp.bsky.social

6/ Studying this in a wild population helps reveal how immune genes and microbiomes interact under natural ecological conditions.

Understanding these interactions is key to explaining how host immunity and microbiomes co-evolve.

5/ These patterns suggest that MHC-mediated immune recognition may influence which microbes can persist in the gut and what the microbes can do in the gut.

Increase and decrease prevalence of gut microbiome genes associated with MHC-I diversity.

4/ Functional composition was strongly associated with increasing MHC-I diversity (but not MHC-II diversity).

As MHC-I diversity increased, we observed:
↑ Microbial defence genes
↓ Microbial metabolism genes

Suggesting a trade-off between defence and metabolic capacity in the gut microbiome.

PCA plots of Seychelles warbler taxonomic gut microbiome, showing small but significant changes in composition with MHC-II diversity and Ase-ua7 presence.

3/ We found that taxonomic GM composition of the was associated with immune genetics.

• Higher MHC-II diversity → ↓ Lactococcus lactis, ↑ Staphylococcus lloydii
• Presence of MHC-I allele Ase-ua7 → ↓ Enterococcus casseliflavus & Gordonia sp., ↑ Escherichia coli & Vulcaniibacterium thermophilum

2/ We analysed gut microbiomes from a natural population of Seychelles warblers and examined how MHC diversity and specific alleles relate to microbial communities using shotgun metagenomics.

This allowed us to look at:

• Microbial taxonomy (who is there)
• Microbial function (what they can do)

1/ Host genetics—especially immune genes like the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)—can influence which microbes thrive.

However, most work has focused on microbial identity, not function, and almost never in wild populations.

🧵 New paper!

How does the immune system shape the gut microbiome in wild animals?

We studied the Seychelles warbler using shotgun metagenomics to test how variation in MHC genes (key immune genes) influences both the taxonomy and function of gut microbes.

rdcu.be/e7Wxv

Here’s what we found 👇

Ga

Next up for #CEECRebellion2026: Our Chairs! 🌿

We are thankful to Prof. Aldina Franco and Dr. Gabrielle Davidson for their advice and guidance to the organizing committee.

Stay tuned for more 🦋

@aldinafranco.bsky.social @drgdavidson.bsky.social
@ueaenv.bsky.social
@biouea.bsky.social

Postdoc in marine environmental DNA/ sedimentary ancient DNA The Department of Glaciology and Climate at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) is looking for a dedicated and enthusiastic postdoctoral resea

📣We are recruiting!

Postdoc position open in marine #eDNA / #sedaDNA in Copenhagen as part of the Arctic NordForsk #PHATE Research Project.

See the link for details 👇 and get in touch if you want to know more.

Deadline is on the 6th April 🌊 🧬
Glaciology and Climate - #GEUS

#HAB #phycotoxins

New paper out on the begging behavior of cross-fostered zebra finch nestlings raised in small and large broods 🐣
brill.com/view/journal...

Applications are open now!

You'll also benefit from the supervisory expertise of the brilliant Dipali Singh and @telatin.bsky.social

#mmbdtp #norwich #uea

Excited to collaborate with @hassansalem.bsky.social and @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social on this new Postdoc opportunity!

If you're interested in the developmental biology of symbiosis, apply and join us @johninnescentre.bsky.social and @thesainsburylab.bsky.social 🪲🦠🔬

Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Bath Searching for an academic job? Explore this Postdoctoral Research Associate opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

New postdoc position available in the Tooke lab in our department. Perfect if you like molecular microbiology, structural biology and biochemistry!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQP592/p...

How does treatment induced antibiotic resistance happen in real-world infections? We analysed 25k Pseudomonas isolates from 180 patients in a clinical trial to find out! TLDR: The ecological and evolutionary paths are surprisingly diverse & complex even in patients receiving identical treatment…

Will Nash explaining the importance of pollarding

I had a lovely time participating in the Market to Marsh walk with the lovely @nashalselection.bsky.social as part of the Norwich science festival

- urban green space
- biodiversity corridor
- microhabitats

@uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social and Norfolk Wildlife Trust

CEEC Rebellion's coming!

Make a note in your diaries for the 18 and 19 March 2026 at UEA, and in the meantime, how awesome are the team?! ⬇️

#UEAScience

Virtual webinar on safe microbiome perturbations focusing on gut microbiome and probiotics, scheduled for 26 February 2026.

Save the date! Join us on 26 February 2026 at 1pm (GMT) for the second instalment of our Safe Microbiome Perturbations webinar series, focusing on the gut microbiome and probiotics.

Registration is free and now open: https://microb.io/3OBhVPs

#GutMicrobiome #WebinarSeries

Don’t miss out. If you are in the Netherlands and consider yourself an evolutionary biologist then this is a must attend event!

Colleagues working on Microbiomes in Conservation (interpreted broadly), consider submitting an abstract this week to join us at #ISME20 in New Zealand!

One nice result in the new great tit analysis by @davididiaquez.bsky.social et al. is a lovely illustration of Simpson's paradox: within cohorts of great tits, mass increases as birds get older, but across cohorts the population trend is in the other direction
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Centre for Microbial Interactions – Conference 2026 Centre for Microbial Interactions – Annual Conference 2026. Registration is free and the deadline to sign up is Wednesday 25th February 2026.

Big news! I'll be co-chairing a session and presenting a poster at the @norwichmicro.bsky.social Annual Conference this March.

Deadline for abstract submission coming up soon.

#CMI2026 #Microbiology #Astrobiology #NRP #Extremophiles

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