Functional heterogeneity in the fermentation capabilities of the healthy human gut microbiota
Name
journal.pone.0254004.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.68 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9db88d29ddcffc227abb9d009d04071e
Author(s)
Gurry, Thomas
Nguyen, Le Thanh Tu
Yu, Xiaoqian
Alm, Eric J
Date Issued
2021
Journal
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The human gut microbiota is known for its highly heterogeneous composition across different individuals. However, relatively little is known about functional differences in its ability to ferment complex polysaccharides. Through ex vivo measurements from healthy human donors, we show that individuals vary markedly in their microbial metabolic phenotypes (MMPs), mirroring differences in their microbiota composition, and resulting in the production of different quantities and proportions of Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) from the same inputs. We also show that aspects of these MMPs can be predicted from composition using 16S rRNA sequencing. From experiments performed using the same dietary fibers in vivo, we demonstrate that an ingested bolus of fiber is almost entirely consumed by the microbiota upon passage. We leverage our ex vivo data to construct a model of SCFA production and absorption in vivo, and argue that inter-individual differences in quantities of absorbed SCFA are directly related to differences in production. Though in vivo studies are required to confirm these data in the context of the gut, in addition to in vivo read outs of SCFAs produced in response to specific fiber spike-ins, these data suggest that optimizing SCFA production in a given individual through targeted fiber supplementation requires quantitative understanding of their MMP.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254004
