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PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE
Immunity as an evolutionary stabilizer: Microbial competition, biological complexity, and thermodynamic organization
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1 Mind-Body Medicine Research Council, Institute for Integrative Health Care and Health Promotion (IGVF), Faculty of Health/School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, North Rhine–Westphalia,
Germany
MI, 026240066 https://doi.org/10.36922/MI026240066
Received: 11 June 2026 | Revised: 1 July 2026 | Accepted: 6 July 2026 | Published online: 16 July 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/ )
Abstract
Life operates within thermodynamic constraints requiring continuous energy acquisition, utilization, and dissipation. Among evolution’s most consequential innovations is immunity, which stabilizes increasingly complex organisms against continual microbial challenge. Microbial competition, pathogen–host interactions, and immune regulation are dynamic processes sustaining biological homeostasis under changing selective conditions. As life diversified, mechanisms that distinguish self from non-self became essential for preserving internal stability—thereby positioning immunity as an evolutionary gatekeeper enabling the transition from simple microbial systems to complex multicellular organisms capable of cognition. Advances in immunometabolism, trained immunity, and microbiome research confirm that immune processes are fundamentally linked to energy allocation, information exchange, and metabolic regulation. Collectively, microbial competition and immune stabilization represent central manifestations of thermodynamic organization, enabling biological persistence, diversification, and increasing complexity.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
Immunity
Microbial evolution
Thermodynamics
Pathogen–host interactions
Biological complexity
Microbiome
Mitochondria
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
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