MICROBIOME NEWS: Of mice and men and their different tolerance to pathogens. “Trillions of commensal microbes live on the mucosal and epidermal surfaces of the body and it is firmly established that this microbiome affects its host’s tolerance and sensitivity of the host to a variety of pathogens. However, host tolerance to infection with pathogens is not equally developed in all organisms. For example, it is known that the gut microbiome of mice protects more effectively against infection with certain pathogens, such as the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium, than the human gut microbiome. This raises the interesting possibility that analyzing differences between host-microbiome interactions in humans and other species, such as mice, and pinpointing individual types of bacterial that either protect or sensitize against certain pathogens, could lead to entirely new types of therapeutic approaches.”