Identifying genetic determinants needed to establish a human gut symbiont in its habitat

ABSTRACT: The human gut microbiota is a metabolic organ whose cellular composition is determined by a dynamic process of selection and competition. To identify microbial genes required for establishment of human symbionts in the gut, we developed an approach (insertion-sequencing, or INSeq) based on a mutagenic transposon that allows capture of adjacent chromosomal DNA to define its genomic location. We used massively parallel sequencing to monitor the relative abundance of tens of thousands of transposon mutants of a saccharolytic human gut bacterium, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, as they established themselves in wild-type and immunodeficient gnotobiotic mice, in the presence or absence of other human gut commensals. In vivo selection transforms this population, revealing functions necessary for

ORGANISM(S): Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron

SUBMITTER: Andrew Goodman 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-17712 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress