The current article is a review of the most important, accessible and relevant literature published between April 2020 and March 2021 on the gut microbiota and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The major areas of publication during this period were human clinical studies, as well as mechanistic insights from animal models. Most papers focused on the bacterial component of the gut microbiota although some papers described aspects of the virome and mycobiome. There were over 70 articles published in the reporting period.