Identifying glycan consumers in human gut microbiota samples using metabolic labeling coupled with fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

ABSTRACT: The composition and metabolism of the human gut microbiota are strongly influenced by dietary complex glycans, which cause downstream effects on the physiology and health of hosts. Despite recent advances in our understanding of glycan metabolism by human gut bacteria, we still need methods to link glycans to their consuming bacteria. Here, we use a functional assay to identify and isolate gut bacteria from healthy human volunteers that take up different glycans. The method combines metabolic labeling using fluorescent oligosaccharides with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), followed by amplicon sequencing or culturomics. Our results demonstrate metabolic labeling in various taxa, such as Prevotella copri, Collinsella aerofaciens and Blautia wexlerae. In vitro validation confirms

SUBMITTER: Dridi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9905522 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature