Biogeography of Bacterial Communities and Specialized Metabolism in Human Aerodigestive Tract Microbiomes.

ABSTRACT: The aerodigestive tract (ADT) is the primary portal through which pathogens and other invading microbes enter the body. As the direct interface with the environment, we hypothesize that the ADT microbiota possess biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for antibiotics and other specialized metabolites to compete with both endogenous and exogenous microbes. From 1,214 bacterial genomes, representing 136 genera and 387 species that colonize the ADT, we identified 3,895 BGCs. To determine the distribution of BGCs and bacteria in different ADT sites, we aligned 1,424 metagenomes, from nine different ADT sites, onto the predicted BGCs. We show that alpha diversity varies across the ADT and that each site is associated with distinct bacterial communities and BGCs. We identify specific BGC families enr

SUBMITTER: Stubbendieck RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8549736 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature