William Shoemaker

Abstract A considerable proportion of human gut bacteria use some form of dormancy to survive unfavorable conditions such as oxygen exposure, antibiotic treatment, and inflammation. Dormancy strategies enable persistence, allow recolonization following disruptions, and facilitate transmission between individuals. In this study, we explored the composition, characteristics, and longitudinal dynamics of the dormant community in the gut as determined by ethanol resistance.

Abstract The human gut microbiome is a dynamic ecosystem. Host behaviors (e.g., diet) provide a regular source of environmental variation that induce fluctuations in the abundances of resident microbiota. Despite these displacements, microbial community members are highly resilient in that they tend to fluctuate around characteristic steady-state abundances in healthy human hosts rather than suffering extinction or dominating the community.

Loading metrics Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article ? This is an uncorrected proof. Citation: Shoemaker WR, Sánchez Á, Grilli J (2025) Macroecological patterns in experimental microbial communities. PLoS Comput Biol 21(5): e1013044. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013044 Editor: Nic Vega, Emory University Department of Biology, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Received: November 18, 2024; Accepted: April 10, 2025; Published: May 8, 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Shoemaker et al.