Researchers develop tool to understand how the gut microbiome works
2015-03-11
(Press-News.org) HEIDELBERG, 11 March 2015 - Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University in the United States have developed a way to study the functions of hard-to-grow bacteria that contribute to the composition of the gut microbiome. The new method is published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.
"Our method, TFUMseq, is a powerful tool for understanding how the wealth of microbes that we harbour in our bodies are so successful at colonizing us. It provides a general high-throughput approach to identify genes that enhance the fitness of microbes over time as they grow in complex living organisms," says Georg Gerber, one of the lead authors on the study, and Assistant Professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School.
Most of the genes in the human body do not come from human cells but are found within the trillions of microbes that live on or within the human body, particularly in the gut. Working out the functions of these microbial genes is a big challenge because many of the microbes that live within us are extremely reluctant to grow when cultured under laboratory conditions.
The new method circumvents the problem of not being able to culture many of these bacteria in the lab by transferring genes from these bacteria into another bacterial species that is easier to work with. It is then possible to look for tell-tale signs of advantages conferred to the recipient bacterial species as it grows in the mammalian gut over time.
In their demonstration, the researchers used the bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a microbe that lives in the human intestinal tract, as their "donor organism," that is the one whose functions they wanted to study in more detail. The more manageable recipient was Escherichia coli, which can be easily manipulated in the lab. E. coli organisms harbouring fragments of DNA from the "donor organism" were then fed to germ-free mice, which are animals that are raised in special environments (isolators) that prevent the entry of any bacteria.
The scientists were able to use the method to uncover improvements in the capabilities or fitness of the recipient E. coli bacteria growing in the mouse gut that were due to characteristics being passed on from the source bacterium. In particular, they detected E. coli organisms that were being selected due to their improved abilities to use different carbohydrates as a source of energy, a property conferred by the source bacterium B. thetaiotaomicron.
The work is the first time that a large-scale functional genomic approach has been used to systematically examine how bacteria can gain capabilities that improve their ability to colonize living organisms, in this case mice. The work also allows building up a picture of the behavior of different genes of the gut bacteria over time, so-called kinetic information. This information provides clues as to when different genes are most important during the complex process of colonizing a living organism.
Harris Wang, a lead author on the study, and Assistant Professor at Columbia University, added: "The use of the TFUMseq approach could allow the rational design of bacterial strains for various clinical applications, for example improving the ability of probiotic bacteria to colonize the gut, resisting colonization by pathogens, compensating for unbalanced diets, such as too much fat or sugar, or improving the function of the immune system to prevent diseases."
INFORMATION:
Improving microbial fitness in the mammalian gut by in vivo temporal functional metagenomics
Stephanie J. Yaung, Luxue Deng, Ning Li, Jonathan L. Braff, George M. Church, Lynn Bry, Harris H. Wang and Georg K. Gerber
Read the paper:
http://msb.embopress.org/content/11/3/788
Further information on Molecular Systems Biology is available at http://msb.embopress.org
Media Contacts
Barry Whyte
Head | Public Relations and Communications
barry.whyte@embo.org
Maria Polychronidou
Editor, Molecular Systems Biology
Tel: +49 6221 8891 410
maria.polychronidou@embo.org
About EMBO
EMBO is an organization of more than 1700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences. The major goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a European research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.
EMBO helps young scientists to advance their research, promote their international reputations and ensure their mobility. Courses, workshops, conferences and scientific journals disseminate the latest research and offer training in techniques to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice. EMBO helps to shape science and research policy by seeking input and feedback from our community and by following closely the trends in science in Europe.
For more information: http://www.embo.org ?
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-03-11
Researchers trying to understand wheat-related health problems have found new clues to how the grain's proteins, including gluten, change when cooked and digested. They report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that boiling pasta releases some of its potential allergens, while other proteins persist throughout cooking and digestion. Their findings lend new insights that could ultimately help celiac patients and people allergic to wheat.
Gianfranco Mamone and colleagues point out that pasta is one of the most popular foods in Europe and the U.S. Most people ...
2015-03-11
Lithium-ion batteries have enabled many of today's electronics, from portable gadgets to electric cars. But much to the frustration of consumers, none of these batteries last long without a recharge. Now scientists report in the journal ACS Nano the development of a new, "green" way to boost the performance of these batteries -- with a material derived from silk.
Chuanbao Cao and colleagues note that carbon is a key component in commercial Li-ion energy storage devices including batteries and supercapacitors. Most commonly, graphite fills that role, but it has a limited ...
2015-03-11
21st March 2015 will see the US launch of the British Psychological Society's Division of Clinical Psychology's ground-breaking report 'Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia'.
The report, which will be launched at 9am at the Cooper Union, Manhattan, NYC by invitation of the International Society for Psychological and Social approaches to Psychosis (ISPS), challenges received wisdom about the nature of mental illness and has led to widespread media coverage and debate in the UK.
Many people believe that schizophrenia is a frightening brain disease that makes ...
2015-03-11
This news release is available in French. Montreal, March 11, 2015 -- There may not yet be a cure for insomnia, but Concordia University researchers are a step closer to predicting who is most likely to suffer from it -- just in time for World Sleep Day on March 13.
In his study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Thien Thanh Dang-Vu, from Concordia's Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology and PERFORM Center, explores the impact of stress on sleep. Although researchers already know that stressful events can trigger insomnia, the experiment reveals ...
2015-03-11
Three-dimensional bioprinting has come a long way since its early days when a bioengineer replaced the ink in his desktop printer with living cells. Scientists have since successfully printed small patches of tissue. Could it someday allow us to custom-print human organs for patients in need of transplants? An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, explores the possibility.
Matt Davenport, an associate editor at C&EN, points out that for every organ donor in 2012, there were more than eight patients on ...
2015-03-11
Women who give birth in a public hospital are more confident parents compared to women who have babies privately, a new Australian study has found.
A joint study by Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland, surveyed more than 6400 mums in Queensland, and found women who birth in the public sector were more likely to receive after-hospital health care, in turn boosting their confidence as a new parent, than women in the private system.
Associate Professor Yvette Miller from QUT's Faculty of Health and one of the authors of the study published ...
2015-03-11
Researchers from the Cochrane Infectious Disease Group, hosted at LSTM, have conducted an independent review to assess how well point of care tests detect Schistosoma infections in people living in endemic regions.
Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a parasitic disease classified as a neglected tropical diseases (NTD), which is common in tropical and subtropical regions. The traditional means of testing for the disease is microscopy, which is lab based. Point-of-care tests and urine reagent tests are quicker and easier to use than microscopy in the field, and ...
2015-03-11
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite saw powerful towering thunderstorms in Tropical Cyclone Pam, indicating the storm was strengthening as it moved through the Solomon Islands. Pam has now triggered warnings in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Zealand.
In the Solomon Islands, a tropical cyclone warning was in effect today, March 11, for Temotu, Malaita and Makira provinces. A tropical cyclone watch was in effect for Rennell and Bellona, Central, Isabel, Western, Guadalcanal and the Choiseul provinces.
In Vanuatu, a tropical cyclone warning ...
2015-03-11
Using a specially selected library of different hepatitis C viruses, a team of researchers led by Johns Hopkins scientists has identified tiny differences in the pathogens' outer shell proteins that underpin their resistance to antibodies. The findings, reported in the January 2015 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest a reason why some patients' immune systems can't fend off hepatitis C infections, and they reveal distinct challenges for those trying to craft a successful vaccine to prevent them. Due to concerns about the rising costs of newly available ...
2015-03-11
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Researchers from Brown and Johns Hopkins universities have come up with a new way to evaluate how well computers can divine information from images. The team describes its new system as a "visual Turing test," after the legendary computer scientist Alan Turing's test of the extent to which computers display human-like intelligence.
"There have been some impressive advances in computer vision in recent years," said Stuart Geman, the James Manning Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown. "We felt that it might be time to raise the ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Researchers develop tool to understand how the gut microbiome works
