Emergence of microbial diversity due to cross-feeding interactions in a spatial model of gut microbial metabolism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The human gut contains approximately 10¹⁴ bacteria, belonging to hundreds of different species. Together, these microbial species form a complex food web that can break down nutrient sources that our own digestive enzymes cannot handle, including complex polysaccharides, producing short chain fatty acids and additional metabolites, e.g., vitamin K. Microbial diversity is important for colonic health: Changes in the composition of the microbiota have been associated with inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity and Crohn's disease, and make the microbiota more vulnerable to infestation by harmful species, e.g., Clostridium difficile. To get a grip on the controlling factors of microbial diversity in the gut, we here propose a multi-scale, spatiotemporal dy

SUBMITTER: Hoek MJAV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5434578 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature