Abstract
The gut contains a highly dynamic environment where elements of the neurophysiological, microbiological, and immunological systems interact, and which nutrition has an impact on those interactions. In endeavoring to understand the mechanisms governing such complex interactions an approach has been utilized that employs a common evolutionary-based language that unites all the systems. That common uniting element is a shared, evolutionary-based neurochemistry. Neurochemicals, which are ubiquitous throughout nature, first evolved in bacteria and ultimately through lateral gene transfer to animals as well as being found throughout the plant kingdom. Crucially, these neurochemicals, which share the exact same structure and often identical synthetic pathways, serve as a shared language between bacteria, plant and animal thereby forming the basis of the theory of microbial endocrinology. Critically, this approach is highly tractable allowing it to be employed as a mechanistic-based platform to devise new strategies to improve animal health including mitigating the effects of stress on the development of infectious disease. This talk will discuss the various aspects of animal health and well-being that may be influenced by microbial endocrinology-based mechanisms and ways in which it may be used to improve animal health and behavior.