An efficient system for intestinal on-site butyrate production using novel microbiome-derived esterases.

ABSTRACT: Short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, play beneficial roles in sustaining gastrointestinal health. However, due to limitations associated with direct consumption of butyrate, there has been interest in using prodrugs of butyrate. Tributyrin (TB), a triglyceride composed of three butyrate molecules and a glycerol, is a well-studied precursor of butyrate. We screened a metagenome library consisting of 5760 bacterial artificial chromosome clones, with DNA inserts originating from mouse microbiomes, and identified two clones that efficiently hydrolyse TB into butyrate. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicated that inserts in these two clones are derived from unknown microbes. BLASTp analysis, however, revealed that each insert contains a gene homologous to acetylesterase or esterase gene

SUBMITTER: Jung DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7936488 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature