Exploring species community and functional variations with human gut microbiome structure and health beyond infancy.

The human gut community has been studied in detail in infants and following dietary interventions in adults. However, the variability of the distribution of species and intra-species functions have been little studied, particularly beyond infancy. Here, we explore the ecology of communities in a large public dataset of human gut metagenomes, mostly corresponding to adults.

Structure-activity analysis suggests an olfactory function for the unique antennal delta glutathione transferase of Apis mellifera.

Glutathione transferases (GST) are detoxification enzymes that conjugate glutathione to a wide array of molecules. In the honey bee Apis mellifera, AmGSTD1 is the sole member of the delta class of GSTs, with expression in antennae. Here, we structurally and biochemically characterized AmGSTD1 to elucidate its function.