Amino Acids and Ribose: Drivers of Protein and RNA Fermentation by Ingested Bacteria of a Primitive Gut Ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Earthworms are among the most primitive animals and are of fundamental importance to the turnover of organic matter in the terrestrial biosphere. These invertebrates ingest materials that are colonized by microbes, some of which are subject to disruption by the crop/gizzard or other lytic events during gut passage. Protein and RNA are dominant polymers of disrupted microbial cells, and these biopolymers facilitate robust fermentations by surviving ingested bacteria. To further resolve these fermentations, amino acids and ribose (as fermentable constituents of protein and RNA, respectively) were evaluated as potential drivers of fermentation in gut content of the model earthworm Lumbricus terrestris (taxa were examined with 16S rRNA-based analyses). Of eight amino acids tested, gluta

SUBMITTER: Zeibich L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6752017 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature