• Ariangela Kozik and Yvonne J Huang.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
• Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2020 Jan 1; 26 (1): 27-32.

Purpose Of ReviewAsthma is a heterogeneous condition shaped not only by genetics but also host conditioning by environmental factors. Recognizing the ecological context of microbe-immune interactions across environments and body sites is a necessary step toward better understanding how human microbiota influence or drive the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of asthma in its various presentations.Recent FindingsThere is increasing evidence of a critical role for microbiota in asthma pathogenesis and outcomes across various body compartments, including the upper and lower airways, and gut. We discuss recent studies from this area including: development of a method to quantify microbial farm-effect in nonfarm environments, relationships between environmental microbial exposures and asthma prevalence across different geographies, microbiome-mediated responses to ozone, and microbiome-immune interactions within and across body compartments. Beyond bacteria, recent reports of asthma-associated differences in archaea and fungal organisms also are highlighted.SummaryCollective evidence warrants application of an ecological framework to advance mechanistic insights into microbiota-immune interactions in asthma. This is necessary to achieve goals of developing successful therapeutic interventions targeting modification of microbiomes.

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