TY - JOUR
T1 - A humanized gnotobiotic mouse model of host-archaeal-bacterial mutualism
AU - Samuel, Buck S.
AU - Gordon, Jeffrey I.
PY - 2006/6/27
Y1 - 2006/6/27
N2 - Our colons harbor trillions of microbes including a prominent archaeon, Methanobrevibacter smithii. To examine the contributions of Archaea to digestive health, we colonized germ-free mice with Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, an adaptive bacterial forager of the polysaccharides that we consume, with or without M. smithii or the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio piger. Whole-genome transcriptional profiling of B. thetaiotaomicron. combined with mass spectrometry, revealed that, unlike D. piger, M. smithii directs B. thetaiotaomicron to focus on fermentation of dietary fructans to acetate, whereas B. thetaiotaomicron-derived formate is used by M. smithii for methanogenesis. B. thetaiotaomicron-M. smithii cocolonization produces a significant increase in host adiposity compared with monoassociated, or B. thetaiotaomicron-D. piger biassociated, animals. These findings demonstrate a link between this archaeon, prioritized bacterial utilization of polysaccharides commonly encountered in our modern diets, and host energy balance.
AB - Our colons harbor trillions of microbes including a prominent archaeon, Methanobrevibacter smithii. To examine the contributions of Archaea to digestive health, we colonized germ-free mice with Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, an adaptive bacterial forager of the polysaccharides that we consume, with or without M. smithii or the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio piger. Whole-genome transcriptional profiling of B. thetaiotaomicron. combined with mass spectrometry, revealed that, unlike D. piger, M. smithii directs B. thetaiotaomicron to focus on fermentation of dietary fructans to acetate, whereas B. thetaiotaomicron-derived formate is used by M. smithii for methanogenesis. B. thetaiotaomicron-M. smithii cocolonization produces a significant increase in host adiposity compared with monoassociated, or B. thetaiotaomicron-D. piger biassociated, animals. These findings demonstrate a link between this archaeon, prioritized bacterial utilization of polysaccharides commonly encountered in our modern diets, and host energy balance.
KW - Adiposity
KW - Energy homeostasis
KW - Gut microbial ecology
KW - Methanobrevibacter smithii
KW - Polysaccharide metabolism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33745610880&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0602187103
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0602187103
M3 - Article
C2 - 16782812
AN - SCOPUS:33745610880
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 103
SP - 10011
EP - 10016
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 26
ER -