Dear Colleagues,

The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a diverse and intricate organ system, spanning from the mouth to the anus. It consists of approximately 7 meters of small intestine and 2 meters of large intestine, each with distinct structures and functions such as nutrient digestion, immune monitoring, and maintaining a balanced symbiotic relationship with the GI microbiome for overall gut homeostasis. The GI microbiome, consisting of bacteria, viromes (viruses), mycobiome (fungi), and archaeome (archaea), resides throughout the GI with varying composition in different regions in GI to maintain overall health of GI by interacting with environment. Microbiome have received substantial attention for its role in GI health and disease. Recent studies indicated that the gut microbiome also interacts and regulates host epigenetic mechanisms that play important roles in GI  physiology and disease development.

The primary objective of this issue is to comprehensively examine and investigate the interplay between the gut microbiome components/metabolites and their association with the host epigenetic modifications which may influence GI health outcome. Previous evidence demonstrated the correlations between microbiome-host  and  analyzed the microbial composition with identification of specific microbial taxa by recruiting  diverse cohort of samples, including healthy subjects and patients diagnosed with GI disorders (inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using high-throughput technologies/approaches (meta-genomic, meta-transcriptomic, metabolomics, and advanced bioinformatics tools). Furthermore, this issue will cover various aspects of epigenetic factors (DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNAs), their roles in modulating the GI microbiome and the host immune, metabolic, and barrier functions. Moreover, the issue will explore the influence of external factors, such as diet, lifestyle, environmental exposures and their role in development and progression of GI disorders.

It is our hope that this collection with cutting-edge research  (including interdisciplinary and a holistic approach’s) will gain a better understanding of interkingdom epigenetic crosstalk which pave the way for novel therapeutic interventions, drive advancements in GI tract disorder management, and inspire further investigations in this fascinating realm of field of epigenetic crossroads between the microbiome and host, which could lead to better patient outcome.

Guest Editors

Dr. Mudasir Rashid

Dr. Sameer Mir