Resource sharing of an infant gut microbiota synthetic community in combinations of human milk oligosaccharides.

Quickly after birth, the gut microbiota is shaped via species acquisition and resource pressure. Breastmilk, and more specifically, human milk oligosaccharides are a determining factor in the formation of microbial communities and the interactions between bacteria. Prominent human milk oligosaccharide degraders have been rigorously characterized, but it is not known how the gut microbiota is shaped as a complex community.

Akkermansia muciniphila: biology, microbial ecology, host interactions and therapeutic potential.

Akkermansia muciniphila is a gut bacterium that colonizes the gut mucosa, has a role in maintaining gut health and shows promise for potential therapeutic applications. The discovery of A. muciniphila as an important member of our gut microbiome, occupying an extraordinary niche in the human gut, has led to new hypotheses on gut health, beneficial microorganisms and host-microbiota interactions.

Draft genome sequence of strain B181, isolated from a fecal sample.

A mesophilic methanogen, B181 (DSM 11975) was previously isolated from a human fecal sample, grown on carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and subsequently sequenced. The reconstructed 1.9-Mb genome sequence of B181 contributes to our understanding of hydrogenotrophic, CO-reducing methanogenesis in the human gut.

Use of synthetic communities to study microbial ecology of the gut.

The application of synthetic microbial communities is an excellent approach to model the ecological interactions between microbes in the human gastrointestinal tract. Although DNA-based studies have provided a wealth of information, they do not consider the ecological properties of the human gut microbiota. Ecological interactions between gut microbes of interest can be studied by applying synthetic communities.

How microbial glycosyl hydrolase activity in the gut mucosa initiates microbial cross-feeding.

The intestinal epithelium is protected from direct contact with gut microbes by a mucus layer. This mucus layer consists of secreted mucin glycoproteins. The outer mucus layer in the large intestine forms a niche that attracts specific gut microbiota members of which several gut commensals can degrade mucin.