Dissecting host–microbe interactions with modern functional genomics

Abstract

Interrogation of host–microbe interactions has long been a source of both basic discoveries and benefits to human health. Here, we review the role that functional genomics approaches have played in such efforts, with an emphasis on recent examples that have harnessed technological advances to provide mechanistic insight at increased scale and resolution. Finally, we discuss how concurrent innovations in model systems and genetic tools have afforded opportunities to interrogate additional types of host–microbe relationships, such as those in the mammalian gut. Bringing these innovations together promises many exciting discoveries ahead.