This news item is about: Each of us has trillions of microbes living in our gut. As we go about our day, many of these microbes regulate processes in our bodies through the production of metabolites, small molecule compounds that are produced by enzymes within their cells. Gut microbes are foreign organisms living inside of us, but they are crucial to our health. Our bodies have to maintain a kind of detente with them, ensuring that we coexist peacefully together in symbiosis. “We’re constantly being challenged by these microbes,” says Pamela V. Chang, Microbiology and Immunology. “When we eat, there is bacteria in our food, and then it gets into the gut. The question is how does the gut react to that?” Understanding the microbiota in the gut is especially important because certain microbes are necessary to maintain protection against infection, according to Chang. A certain balance of microbes is needed for conditions in the gut to be optimal. When an imbalance occurs, the immune system can go haywire, causing chronic inflammation, which in the gut can lead to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like colitis or Crohn’s Disease