Exchange of Vitamin B and Its Biosynthesis Intermediates Shapes the Composition of Synthetic Microbial Cocultures and Reveals Complexities of Nutrient Sharing.

Microbial communities occupy diverse niches in nature, and community members routinely exchange a variety of nutrients among themselves. While large-scale metagenomic and metabolomic studies shed some light on these exchanges, the contribution of individual species and the molecular details of specific interactions are difficult to track. In this study, we follow the exchange of vitamin B (thiamin) and its intermediates between microbes within synthetic cocultures of Escherichia coli and Vibrio anguillarum.

Leveraging an enzyme/artificial substrate system to enhance cellular persulfides and mitigate neuroinflammation.

Persulfides and polysulfides, collectively known as the sulfane sulfur pool along with hydrogen sulfide (HS), play a central role in cellular physiology and disease. Exogenously enhancing these species in cells is an emerging therapeutic paradigm for mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation that are associated with several diseases. In this study, we present a unique approach of using the cell's own enzyme machinery coupled with an array of artificial substrates to enhance the cellular sulfane sulfur pool.