Abstract
Germ-free mice were maintained on polysaccharide-rich or simple-sugar diets and colonized for 10 days with an organism also found in human guts, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, followed by whole-genome transcriptional profiling of bacteria and mass spectrometry of cecal glycans. We found that these bacteria assembled on food particles and mucus, selectively induced outer-membrane polysaccharide-binding proteins and glycoside hydrolases, prioritized the consumption of liberated hexose sugars, and revealed a capacity to turn to host mucus glycans when polysaccharides were absent from the diet. This flexible foraging behavior should contribute to ecosystem stability and functional diversity.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Adaptation, Physiological
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Animals
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Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
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Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
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Bacteroides / enzymology
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Bacteroides / genetics
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Bacteroides / growth & development
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Bacteroides / metabolism*
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Cecum / microbiology*
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Cluster Analysis
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Diet
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Dietary Carbohydrates / metabolism
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Ecosystem
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Gene Expression Profiling
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Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
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Germ-Free Life
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Glycoside Hydrolases / genetics
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Glycoside Hydrolases / metabolism
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Hexoses / metabolism
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Intestines / microbiology
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Male
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Mice
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Mucus / metabolism
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Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
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Operon
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Polysaccharide-Lyases / genetics
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Polysaccharide-Lyases / metabolism
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Polysaccharides / metabolism*
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Symbiosis*
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Transcription, Genetic
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Up-Regulation
Substances
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Bacterial Proteins
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Dietary Carbohydrates
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Hexoses
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Polysaccharides
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Glycoside Hydrolases
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Polysaccharide-Lyases