AccScience Publishing / MI / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/MI025340084
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REVIEW ARTICLE

Developmental symbiosis in immunity: Microbiome–immune interactions from infancy to adulthood

Ángel R. Rábago-Monzón1 ,  David A. Armienta-Rojas1 ,  Alberto K. De la Herrán-Arita1*
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1 Department of neuroscience, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Culiacán, Sinaloa, México
MI, 025340084 https://doi.org/10.36922/MI025340084
Received: 21 August 2025 | Revised: 16 December 2025 | Accepted: 21 January 2026 | Published online: 24 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

The maturation of the immune system is not an isolated, genetically pre-programmed process but rather the outcome of a deeply integrated partnership between host and microbial communities, a phenomenon we term developmental symbiosis. This review synthesizes evidence from evolutionary biology, ecology, and immunology to describe how symbiotic relationships shape immune trajectories across the human lifespan. We begin by addressing the co-evolutionary foundations of this partnership, illustrating how ancient microbial encounters drove the selection of key molecular components, including pathogen-associated molecular pattern recognition by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the viral origins of recombination-activating genes. Moving away from a siloed structure, we examine the lifespan chronologically, integrating mechanistic insights with clinical pathology for each developmental window. We detail the unique immune behaviors of the prenatal period, specifically the window of heightened tolerance, followed by the critical priming events of neonatal colonization, the expansive education of infancy, the hormonal modulations of adolescence, and the dysbiotic shifts of aging. Within each stage, we highlight how environmental disruptions, such as antibiotic use or delivery mode changes, can permanently recalibrate immune set-points. Finally, we evaluate the current status of therapeutic modulations, including probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation, emphasizing the need for precision interventions that are tailored in accordance to the temporal specificity of immune development.

Keywords
Microbiota–immune interactions
Developmental immunology
Symbiosis
Dysbiosis
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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