Abstract
The gut microbiome has profound influences on brain activity and complex behaviours. Research across diverse animal species, in both natural environments and laboratory settings, has identified biological mechanisms that underlie gut–brain interactions. An emerging central theme is that the gut microbiome is shaped by, and actively contributes to, sociability throughout the lifespan. In this Review, we highlight recent literature revealing the effects of the microbiome on early neurodevelopment, immune modulation, stress responses and microorganism-mediated metabolism that affect social behaviour. Studies investigating the cellular and molecular pathways that underlie microbial influences on social behaviour have implicated brain regions and circuits that mediate critical aspects of animal behaviours, including bonding, mating, defence, aggression and social learning. Gut microbiome–brain research using animal models of social deficits and ecological studies in the wild, as well as investigations of human conditions comorbid with impaired social behaviour, could offer new and natural avenues for improved quality of life in individuals and social groups.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank members of the Mazmanian laboratory for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript and C. Oikonomou (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA) for invaluable manuscript editing. The authors acknowledge the supported of L. and B. Fetter, C. Trimble, The Heritage Medical Research Institute, NIH (grant nos. MH100556 and AG063744) (J.A.G. and S.K.M.), Arizona State University (ASU) Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes Start-up (K.N. and R.K.-B.) and National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Taiwan (grant nos. 113-2628-B-006-013- and 114-2628-B-006-013) (W.-L.W.).
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S.K.M. is co-founder of Axial Therapeutics and Nuanced Health, and has equity in Seed Health, Time BioVentures and Intrinsic Medicine. K.N. and R.K.-B. have pending/approved patents for Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS) biomarkers and the use of Microbiota Transplant Therapy for various conditions, including PTHS and autism. R.K.-B is a co-founder of Autism Diagnostics LLC and Gut–Brain Axis Therapeutics. There are no conflicts with the current work. The other authors declare no competing interests.
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Griffiths, J.A., Nirmalkar, K., Wu, WL. et al. The gut microbiome shapes social behaviour across animal species. Nat Rev Microbiol 24, 328–343 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01262-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01262-y
