Functional diversification of dietary plant small molecules by the gut microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Plants are composed of diverse secondary metabolites (PSMs), which are widely associated with human health. Whether and how the gut microbiome mediates such impacts of PSMs is poorly understood. Here, we show that discrete dietary and medicinal phenolic glycosides, abundant health-associated PSMs, are utilized by distinct members of the human gut microbiome. Within the Bacteroides, the predominant gram-negative bacteria of the Western human gut, we reveal a specialized multi-enzyme system dedicated to the processing of distinct glycosides based on structural differences in phenolic moieties. This Bacteroides metabolic system liberates chemically distinct aglycones with diverse biological functions, such as colonization resistance against the gut pathogen Clostridioides difficile via anti-m

SUBMITTER: Kuziel GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12671244 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature