Explore the vast range of titles available.

Diet strongly affects human health, partly by modulating gut microbiome composition. We used diet inventories and 16S rDNA sequencing to characterize fecal samples from 98 individuals. Fecal communities clustered into enterotypes distinguished primarily by levels of Bacteroides and Prevotella. Enterotypes were strongly associated with long-term diets, particularly protein and animal fat (Bacteroides) versus carbohydrates (Prevotella). A controlled-feeding study of 10 subjects showed that microbiome composition changed detectably within 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or low-fat/high-fiber diet, but that enterotype identity remained stable during the 10-day study. Thus, alternative enterotype states are associated with long-term diet.

Increasing evidence suggests that a combination of host genetics and the composition of the gut microbiota are important for development of Crohn's disease (CD). Our aim was to study identical twins with CD to determine microbial factors independent of host genetics. Fecal samples were studied from 10 monozygotic twin pairs with CD (discordant n =6 and concordant n =4) and 8 healthy twin pairs. DNA was extracted, 16S rRNA genes were PCR amplified and T-RFLP fingerprints generated using general bacterial and Bacteroides group-specific primers. The microbial communities were also profiled based on their percentage G+C contents. Bacteroides 16S rRNA genes were cloned and sequenced from a subset of the samples. The bacterial diversity in each sample and similarity indices between samples were estimated based on the T-RFLP data using a combination of statistical approaches. Healthy individuals had a significantly higher bacterial diversity compared to individuals with CD. The fecal microbial communities were more similar between healthy twins than between twins with CD, especially when these were discordant for the disease. The microbial community profiles of individuals with ileal CD were significantly different from healthy individuals and those with colonic CD. Also, CD individuals had a lower relative abundance of B. uniformis and higher relative abundances of B. ovatus and B. vulgatus . Our results suggest that genetics and/or environmental exposure during childhood, in part, determine the gut microbial composition. However, CD is associated with dramatic changes in the gut microbiota and this was particularly evident for individuals with ileal CD.

Germ-free mice mono-associated with a single species of Bacteroides are found to be resistant to further colonization by the same, but not different, species; a unique class of polysaccharide utilization loci that is required for the penetration of the colonic mucus and colonization of the crypt channel niche is discovered that explains this observed species-specific saturable colonization. Stabilizing the gut microbiota The molecular processes used by bacteria to successfully colonize the gastrointestinal tract are poorly understood. Here Sarkis Mazmanian and colleagues report the surprising finding that germ-free mice mono-associated with a single species of Bacteroides are resistant to further colonization by the same, but not different, species. The authors go on to identify a unique class of polysaccharide utilization proteins — named commensal colonization factors (CCFs) — that is conserved among intestinal Bacteroides. The ccf genes of Bacteroides fragilis are required for penetration of the colonic mucus and colonization of the crypt channel niche, providing a mechanistic understanding for the observed species-specific saturable colonization. Mammals harbour a complex gut microbiome, comprising bacteria that confer immunological, metabolic and neurological benefits 1 . Despite advances in sequence-based microbial profiling and myriad studies defining microbiome composition during health and disease, little is known about the molecular processes used by symbiotic bacteria to stably colonize the gastrointestinal tract. We sought to define how mammals assemble and maintain the Bacteroides , one of the most numerically prominent genera of the human microbiome. Here we find that, whereas the gut normally contains hundreds of bacterial species 2 , 3 , germ-free mice mono-associated with a single Bacteroides species are resistant to colonization by the same, but not different, species. To identify bacterial mechanisms for species-specific saturable colonization, we devised an in vivo genetic screen and discovered a unique class of polysaccharide utilization loci that is conserved among intestinal Bacteroides . We named this genetic locus the commensal colonization factors ( ccf ). Deletion of the ccf genes in the model symbiont, Bacteroides fragilis , results in colonization defects in mice and reduced horizontal transmission. The ccf genes of B. fragilis are upregulated during gut colonization, preferentially at the colonic surface. When we visualize microbial biogeography within the colon, B. fragilis penetrates the colonic mucus and resides deep within crypt channels, whereas ccf mutants are defective in crypt association. Notably, the CCF system is required for B. fragilis colonization following microbiome disruption with Citrobacter rodentium infection or antibiotic treatment, suggesting that the niche within colonic crypts represents a reservoir for bacteria to maintain long-term colonization. These findings reveal that intestinal Bacteroides have evolved species-specific physical interactions with the host that mediate stable and resilient gut colonization, and the CCF system represents a novel molecular mechanism for symbiosis.

Trillions of microorganisms inhabit the human gut and are regarded as potential key factors for health 1 , 2 . Characteristics such as diet, lifestyle, or genetics can shape the composition of the gut microbiota 2 – 6 and are usually shared by individuals from comparable ethnic origin. So far, most studies assessing how ethnicity relates to the intestinal microbiota compared small groups living at separate geographical locations 7 – 10 . Using fecal 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing in 2,084 participants of the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study 11 , 12 , we show that individuals living in the same city tend to share similar gut microbiota characteristics with others of their ethnic background. Ethnicity contributed to explain the interindividual dissimilarities in gut microbiota composition, with three main poles primarily characterized by operational taxonomic units (OTUs) classified as Prevotella (Moroccans, Turks, Ghanaians), Bacteroides (African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese), and Clostridiales (Dutch). The Dutch exhibited the greatest gut microbiota α-diversity and the South-Asian Surinamese the smallest, with corresponding enrichment or depletion in numerous OTUs. Ethnic differences in α-diversity and interindividual dissimilarities were independent of metabolic health and only partly explained by ethnic-related characteristics including sociodemographic, lifestyle, or diet factors. Hence, the ethnic origin of individuals may be an important factor to consider in microbiome research and its potential future applications in ethnic-diverse societies. Stool microbiota composition correlates with the ethnic backgrounds of people living in the same city, suggesting that geographical location and ethnicity have distinct effects on microbiota.

Background: The assessment and characterization of the gut microbiome has become a focus of research in the area of human autoimmune diseases. Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease and evidence showed that ankylosing spondylitis may be a microbiome-driven disease. Results: To investigate the relationship between the gut microbiome and ankylosing spondylitis, a quantitative metagenomics study based on deep shotgun sequencing was performed, using gut microbial DNA from 211 Chinese individuals. A total of 23,709 genes and 12 metagenomic species were shown to be differentially abundant between ankylosing spondylitis patients and healthy controls. Patients were characterized by a form of gut microbial dysbiosis that is more prominent than previously reported cases with inflammatory bowel disease. Specifically, the ankylosing spondylitis patients demonstrated increases in the abundance of Prevotella melaninogenica, Prevotella copri, and Prevotella sp. C561 and decreases in Bacteroides spp. It is noteworthy that the Bifidobacterium genus, which is commonly used in probiotics, accumulated in the ankylosing spondylitis patients. Diagnostic algorithms were established using a subset of these gut microbial biomarkers. Conclusions: Alterations of the gut microbiome are associated with development of ankylosing spondylitis. Our data suggest biomarkers identified in this study might participate in the pathogenesis or development process of ankylosing spondylitis, providing new leads for the development of new diagnostic tools and potential treatments.

Gut mucosal microbes evolved closest to the host, developing specialized local communities. There is, however, insufficient knowledge of these communities as most studies have employed sequencing technologies to investigate faecal microbiota only. This work used shotgun metagenomics of mucosal biopsies to explore the microbial communities’ compositions of terminal ileum and large intestine in 5 healthy individuals. Functional annotations and genome-scale metabolic modelling of selected species were then employed to identify local functional enrichments. While faecal metagenomics provided a good approximation of the average gut mucosal microbiome composition, mucosal biopsies allowed detecting the subtle variations of local microbial communities. Given their significant enrichment in the mucosal microbiota, we highlight the roles of Bacteroides species and describe the antimicrobial resistance biogeography along the intestine. We also detail which species, at which locations, are involved with the tryptophan/indole pathway, whose malfunctioning has been linked to pathologies including inflammatory bowel disease. Our study thus provides invaluable resources for investigating mechanisms connecting gut microbiota and host pathophysiology.

Altered intestinal microbiota is associated with systemic and intestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Dysbiotic microbiota with enhanced proinflammatory capacity is characterized by depletion of anaerobic commensals, increased proportion of facultatively anaerobic bacteria, as well as reduced diversity and stability. In this study, we developed a high-throughput in vitro screening assay to isolate intestinal commensal bacteria with anti-inflammatory capacity from a healthy fecal microbiota transplantation donor. Freshly isolated gut bacteria were screened for their capacity to attenuate Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced interleukin 8 (IL-8) release from HT-29 cells. The screen yielded a number of Bacteroides and Parabacteroides isolates, which were identified as P. distasonis, B. caccae, B. intestinalis, B. uniformis, B. fragilis, B. vulgatus and B. ovatus using whole genome sequencing. We observed that a cell-cell contact with the epithelium was not necessary to alleviate in vitro inflammation as spent culture media from the isolates were also effective and the anti-inflammatory action did not correlate with the enterocyte adherence capacity of the isolates. The anti-inflammatory isolates also exerted enterocyte monolayer reinforcing action and lacked essential genes to synthetize hexa-acylated, proinflammatory lipid A, part of LPS. Yet, the anti-inflammatory effector molecules remain to be identified. The Bacteroides strains isolated and characterized in this study have potential to be used as so-called next-generation probiotics.

Background Bacteria within family S24-7 (phylum Bacteroidetes ) are dominant in the mouse gut microbiota and detected in the intestine of other animals. Because they had not been cultured until recently and the family classification is still ambiguous, interaction with their host was difficult to study and confusion still exists regarding sequence data annotation. Methods We investigated family S24-7 by combining data from large-scale 16S rRNA gene analysis and from functional and taxonomic studies of metagenomic and cultured species. Results A total of 685 species was inferred by full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence clustering. While many species could not be assigned ecological habitats (93,045 samples analyzed), the mouse was the most commonly identified host (average of 20% relative abundance and nine co-occurring species). Shotgun metagenomics allowed reconstruction of 59 molecular species, of which 34 were representative of the 16S rRNA gene-derived species clusters. In addition, cultivation efforts allowed isolating five strains representing three species, including two novel taxa. Genome analysis revealed that S24-7 spp. are functionally distinct from neighboring families and versatile with respect to complex carbohydrate degradation. Conclusions We provide novel data on the diversity, ecology, and description of bacterial family S24-7, for which the name Muribaculaceae is proposed.

Anaerobic methanotrophs help regulate Earth's climate and may have been an important part of the microbial ecosystem on the early Earth. The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is often thought of as a sulfate-dependent process, despite the fact that other electron acceptors are more energetically favorable. Here, we show that microorganisms from marine methane-seep sediment in the Eel River Basin in California are capable of using manganese (birnessite) and iron (ferrihydrite) to oxidize methane, revealing that marine AOM is coupled, either directly or indirectly, to a larger variety of oxidants than previously thought. Large amounts of manganese and iron are provided to oceans from rivers, indicating that manganese- and iron-dependent AOM have the potential to be globally important.

Proteins carry out the vast majority of functions in all biological domains, but for technological reasons their large-scale investigation has lagged behind the study of genomes. Since the first essentially complete eukaryotic proteome was reported 1 , advances in mass-spectrometry-based proteomics 2 have enabled increasingly comprehensive identification and quantification of the human proteome 3 – 6 . However, there have been few comparisons across species 7 , 8 , in stark contrast with genomics initiatives 9 . Here we use an advanced proteomics workflow—in which the peptide separation step is performed by a microstructured and extremely reproducible chromatographic system—for the in-depth study of 100 taxonomically diverse organisms. With two million peptide and 340,000 stringent protein identifications obtained in a standardized manner, we double the number of proteins with solid experimental evidence known to the scientific community. The data also provide a large-scale case study for sequence-based machine learning, as we demonstrate by experimentally confirming the predicted properties of peptides from Bacteroides uniformis . Our results offer a comparative view of the functional organization of organisms across the entire evolutionary range. A remarkably high fraction of the total proteome mass in all kingdoms is dedicated to protein homeostasis and folding, highlighting the biological challenge of maintaining protein structure in all branches of life. Likewise, a universally high fraction is involved in supplying energy resources, although these pathways range from photosynthesis through iron sulfur metabolism to carbohydrate metabolism. Generally, however, proteins and proteomes are remarkably diverse between organisms, and they can readily be explored and functionally compared at www.proteomesoflife.org . An advanced proteomics workflow is used to identify 340,000 proteins from 100 taxonomically diverse species, providing a comparative view of proteomes across the evolutionary range.