Regulated expression of polysaccharide utilization and capsular biosynthesis loci in biofilm and planktonic Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron during growth in chemostats.

ABSTRACT: Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron is a prominent member of the human distal gut microbiota that specializes in breaking down diet and host-derived polysaccharides. While polysaccharide utilization has been well studied in B. thetaiotaomicron, other aspects of its behavior are less well characterized, including the factors that allow it to maintain itself in the gut. Biofilm formation may be a mechanism for bacterial retention in the gut. Therefore, we used custom GeneChips to compare the transcriptomes of biofilm and planktonic B. thetaiotaomicron during growth in mono-colonized chemostats. We identified 1,154 genes with a fold-change greater than 2, with confidence greater than or equal to 95%. Among the prominent changes observed in biofilm populations were: (i) greater expression of genes in

SUBMITTER: TerAvest MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3954753 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature