PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The gut microbiome exerts a powerful influence on human health and disease. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of the microbiota\'s influence is hindered by the immense complexity of the gut microbial community and the glycans they forage. Despite a wealth of genomic and metagenomic sequencing information, there remains a lack of informative phenotypic measurements. Pudlo NA, Urs K, Crawford R, Pirani A, et al. (mSystems 7: e00947-21, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00947-21) decode this complexity by introducing a scalable assay to measure specific carbohydrate utilization in the dominant microbiota phylum Bacteroidetes. The results reveal a mosaic structure of glycan utilization, both genetic and functional, underpinning niche construction in the human gastrointestinal tract. This Commentary highlights the significance of their findings in connection to the field\'s growing appreciation for competition, cooperation, and horizontal gene transfer in shaping the highly complex microbial community.
摘要：
肠道微生物群对人类健康和疾病产生强大的影响。肠道微生物群落和它们觅食的聚糖的巨大复杂性阻碍了阐明微生物群影响的潜在机制。尽管有丰富的基因组和宏基因组测序信息，仍然缺乏信息的表型测量。PudloNA,UrsK,克劳福德R,皮拉尼A,etal.（mSystems7：e00947-21，2022，https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00947-21）通过引入可扩展的测定法来测量优势菌群中特定的碳水化合物利用率来解码这种复杂性。结果揭示了聚糖利用的镶嵌结构，遗传和功能，支撑人胃肠道中的生态位结构。本评论强调了他们的发现与该领域对竞争的日益赞赏有关的重要性，合作,和水平基因转移塑造高度复杂的微生物群落。
