Recent advances in understanding the ecology of the lung microbiota and deciphering the gut-lung axis.

A rapidly expanding new field of lung research has been produced by the emergence of culture-independent next-generation sequencing technologies. While pulmonary microbiome research lags behind the exploration of the microbiome in other organ systems, the field is maturing and has recently produced multiple exciting discoveries. In this mini-review, we will explore recent advances in our understanding of the lung microbiome and the gut-lung axis from an ecological perspective.