Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome
Abstract The gut microbiome is essential for processing complex food compounds and synthesizing nutrients that the host cannot digest or produce, respectively. New model systems are needed to study how the metabolic capacity provided by the gut microbiome impacts the nutritional status of the host,...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Molecular Systems Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209933 |
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| author | Qing Sun Nic M Vega Bernardo Cervantes Christopher P Mancuso Ning Mao Megan N Taylor James J Collins Ahmad S Khalil Jeff Gore Timothy K Lu |
| author_facet | Qing Sun Nic M Vega Bernardo Cervantes Christopher P Mancuso Ning Mao Megan N Taylor James J Collins Ahmad S Khalil Jeff Gore Timothy K Lu |
| author_sort | Qing Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The gut microbiome is essential for processing complex food compounds and synthesizing nutrients that the host cannot digest or produce, respectively. New model systems are needed to study how the metabolic capacity provided by the gut microbiome impacts the nutritional status of the host, and to explore possibilities for altering host metabolic capacity via the microbiome. Here, we colonized the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans gut with cellulolytic bacteria that enabled C. elegans to utilize cellulose, an otherwise indigestible substrate, as a carbon source. Cellulolytic bacteria as a community component in the worm gut can also support additional bacterial species with specialized roles, which we demonstrate by using Lactobacillus plantarum to protect C. elegans against Salmonella enterica infection. This work shows that engineered microbiome communities can be used to endow host organisms with novel functions, such as the ability to utilize alternate nutrient sources or to better fight pathogenic bacteria. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dfd753b767f0430fb0906fcbd549bb7e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1744-4292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecular Systems Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-dfd753b767f0430fb0906fcbd549bb7e2025-08-24T12:01:03ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922022-11-01181111110.15252/msb.20209933Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiomeQing Sun0Nic M Vega1Bernardo Cervantes2Christopher P Mancuso3Ning Mao4Megan N Taylor5James J Collins6Ahmad S Khalil7Jeff Gore8Timothy K Lu9Synthetic Biology Center, MITDepartment of Physics, MITInstitute for Medical Engineering & Science and Department of Biological Engineering, MITBiological Design Center, Boston UniversityDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston UniversityBiology Department, Emory UniversitySynthetic Biology Center, MITBiological Design Center, Boston UniversityDepartment of Physics, MITSynthetic Biology Center, MITAbstract The gut microbiome is essential for processing complex food compounds and synthesizing nutrients that the host cannot digest or produce, respectively. New model systems are needed to study how the metabolic capacity provided by the gut microbiome impacts the nutritional status of the host, and to explore possibilities for altering host metabolic capacity via the microbiome. Here, we colonized the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans gut with cellulolytic bacteria that enabled C. elegans to utilize cellulose, an otherwise indigestible substrate, as a carbon source. Cellulolytic bacteria as a community component in the worm gut can also support additional bacterial species with specialized roles, which we demonstrate by using Lactobacillus plantarum to protect C. elegans against Salmonella enterica infection. This work shows that engineered microbiome communities can be used to endow host organisms with novel functions, such as the ability to utilize alternate nutrient sources or to better fight pathogenic bacteria.https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209933bacteria communitycellulosegut microbiomenutritionpathogen |
| spellingShingle | Qing Sun Nic M Vega Bernardo Cervantes Christopher P Mancuso Ning Mao Megan N Taylor James J Collins Ahmad S Khalil Jeff Gore Timothy K Lu Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome Molecular Systems Biology bacteria community cellulose gut microbiome nutrition pathogen |
| title | Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| title_full | Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| title_fullStr | Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| title_short | Enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| title_sort | enhancing nutritional niche and host defenses by modifying the gut microbiome |
| topic | bacteria community cellulose gut microbiome nutrition pathogen |
| url | https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209933 |
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