Project description:Symbiotic interactions between humans and our communities of resident gut microbes (microbiota) play many roles in health and disease. Some gut bacteria utilize mucus as a nutrient source and can under certain conditions damage the protective barrier it forms, increasing disease susceptibility. We investigated how Ruminococcus torques—a known mucin-degrader that remains poorly studied despite its implication in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs)— degrades mucin glycoproteins or their component O-linked glycans to understand its effects on the availability of mucin-derived nutrients for other bacteria. We found that R. torques utilizes both mucin glycoproteins and released oligosaccharides from gastric and colonic mucins, degrading these substrates with a panoply of mostly constitutively expressed, secreted enzymes. Investigation of mucin oligosaccharide degradation by R. torques revealed strong fucosidase, sialidase and b1,4-galactosidase activities. There was a lack of detectable sulfatase and weak β1,3-galactosidase degradation, resulting in accumulation of glycans containing these structures on mucin polypeptides. While the Gram-negative symbiont, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron grows poorly on mucin glycoproteins, we demonstrate a clear ability of R. torques to liberate products from mucins, making them accessible to B. thetaiotaomicron. This work underscores the diversity of mucin-degrading mechanisms in different bacterial species and the probability that some species are contingent on others for the ability to more fully access mucin-derived nutrients. The ability of R. torques to directly degrade a variety of mucin and mucin glycan structures and unlock released glycans for other species suggests that it is a keystone mucin degrader, which may contribute to its association with IBD.
Project description:Background: Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhea (ICD) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality among juvenile rhesus macaques. Characterized by chronic inflammation of the colon and repeated bouts of diarrhea, ICD is largely unresponsive to medical interventions including corticosteroid, antiparasitic and antibiotic treatments. Although ICD is accompanied by large disruptions in the composition of the commensal gut microbiome, no single pathogen has been concretely identified as responsible for the onset and continuation of the disease. Results: Fecal samples were collected from twelve ICD-diagnosed macaques and twelve age and sex-matched controls. RNA was extracted for metatranscriptomic analysis of species and activity within the gut microbiome. Using SAMSA2, these samples were contrasted to identify shifts both in overall organism activity and functional activity. Bacterial, fungal, archaeal, protozoan, and macaque (host) transcripts were simultaneously assessed. ICD-afflicted animals were characterized by increased activity of known bacterial pathogens and by decreased activity of archaeal methanogens. Interestingly, known fungal opportunists were not increased in ICD, nor were the usual enteric protozoans, although Trichomonas activity is up-regualted. Known mucin degrading organisms and mucin-degrading enzymes were up-regulated in the fecal microbiomes of ICD-afflicted animals. Assessment of colon sections using immunohistochemistry confirmed differential mucin composition between healthy control and ICD animals. Finally, assessment of host-derived transcripts confirms colonic inflammation and suggests that the lumen is infiltrated by granulocytes. Conclusions: The simultaneous profiling of bacterial, fungal, archaeal, protozoan, and macaque transcripts from stool samples suggests that ICD of rhesus macaques is associated with increased pathogen activity and altered mucin degradation.
Project description:The human gut microbiota is crucial for degrading dietary fibres from the diet. However, some of these bacteria can also degrade host glycans, such as mucins, the main component of the protective gut mucus layer. Specific microbiota species and mucin degradation patterns are associated with inflammatory processes in the colon. Yet, it remains unclear how the utilization of mucin glycans affects the degradation of dietary fibres by the human microbiota. Here, we used three dietary fibres (apple pectin, β-glucan and xylan) to study in vitro the dynamics of colon mucin and dietary fibre degradation by the human faecal microbiota. The dietary fibres showed clearly distinguishing modulatory effects on faecal microbiota composition. The utilization of colon mucin in cultures led to alterations in microbiota composition and metabolites. Metaproteome analysis showed the central role of the Bacteroides in degradation of complex fibres while Akkermansia muciniphila was the main degrader of colonic mucin. This work demonstrates the intricacy of complex glycan metabolism by the gut microbiota and how the utilization of host glycans leads to alterations in the metabolism of dietary fibres. Metaproteomics analysis of this data reveals the functional activities of the bacteria in consortia, by this contributing to a better understanding of the complex metabolic pathways within the human microbiota that can be manipulated to maximise beneficial microbiota-host interactions. In this study two different mucin samples were used: commercial porcine gastric mucin and in house prepared porcine colonic mucin. This dataset analyses the proteome of: A) autoclaved porcine colonic mucin; B) not autoclaved porcine colonic mucin; C) porcine gastric mucin.
Project description:Epithelial cells of the mammalian intestine are covered with a mucus layer that prevents direct contact with intestinal microbes but also constitutes a substrate for mucus-degrading bacteria. To study the effect of mucus degradation on the host response, germ-free mice were colonized with Akkermansia muciniphila. This anaerobic bacterium belonging to the Verrucomicrobia is specialized in the degradation of mucin, the glycoprotein present in mucus, and found in high numbers in the intestinal tract of human and other mammalian species. Efficient colonization of A. muciniphila was observed with highest numbers in the cecum, where most mucin is produced. In contrast, following colonization by Lactobacillus plantarum, a facultative anaerobe belonging to the Firmicutes that ferments carbohydrates, similar cell-numbers were found at all intestinal sites. Whereas A. muciniphila was located closely associated with the intestinal cells, L. plantarum was exclusively found in the lumen. The global transcriptional host response was determined in intestinal biopsies and revealed a consistent, site-specific, and unique modulation of about 750 genes in mice colonized by A. muciniphila and over 1500 genes after colonization by L. plantarum. Pathway reconstructions showed that colonization by A. muciniphila altered mucosal gene expression profiles toward increased expression of genes involved in immune responses and cell fate determination, while colonization by L. plantarum led to up-regulation of lipid metabolism. These indicate that the colonizers induce host responses that are specific per intestinal location. In conclusion, we propose that A. muciniphila modulates pathways involved in establishing homeostasis for basal metabolism and immune tolerance toward commensal microbiota. Keywords: Analysis of target gene regulation by using microarrays Adult germ-free female NMRI-KI mice (45 – 65 days) were used for bacterial mono-association. Two bacterial strains were used in this study, A. muciniphila MucT (ATTC BAA-835) and L. plantarum WCFS1 (NCIMB 8826). A. muciniphila was grown anaerobically in a basal mucin based medium and L. plantarum was grown anaerobically at 37°C in Man-Rogosa-Sharpe broth (MRS; Le Pont de Claix, France). After 7 days of colonization, mice were killed by cervical dislocation and terminal ileum, cecum and ascending colon specimens were sampled.
Project description:Background; MUC2 mucin produced by intestinal goblet cells is the major component of the intestinal mucus barrier. MUC2 homo-oligomerizes intracellularly into large secreted polymers which give mucus its viscous properties. The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ulcerative colitis is characterized by depleted goblet cells and a reduced mucus layer, whereas goblet cells and the mucus layer are increased in the other major inflammatory bowel disease, Crohnâs disease. Methods and Findings; By murine N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-mutagenesis we identified two distinct non-complementing missense mutations in Muc2 exons encoding N- and C-terminal homo-oligomerization domains causing an ulcerative colitis-like phenotype. Both strains developed mild spontaneous distal intestinal inflammation, chronic diarrhea, rectal bleeding and prolapse, increased susceptibility to acute and chronic colitis induced by a luminal toxin, aberrant Muc2 biosynthesis, smaller goblet cell thecae (less stored mucin) and a diminished mucus barrier. Enhanced local production of IL-1beta, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma was seen in the distal colon. The number of leukocytes within mesenteric lymph nodes was increased five-fold and leukocytes cultured in vitro produced both Th1 and Th2 cytokines (IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IL-13). Intestinal permeability was increased and the luminal bacterial flora were more heavily coated with immunoglobulin as occurs in IBD. This pathology was accompanied by accumulation of the Muc2 precursor and ultrastructural and biochemical evidence of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in goblet cells, activation of the unfolded protein response, and altered intestinal expression of genes involved in ER stress, inflammation, apoptosis and wound repair. Expression of mutated Muc2 oligomerization domains in vitro demonstrated that aberrant Muc2 oligomerization underlies the ER stress. These models show that mutations in Muc2 oligomerization domains can lead to aberrant assembly of the Muc2 complex leading to ER stress, a depleted mucus barrier and intestinal inflammation. In ulcerative colitis we demonstrate similar accumulation of non-glycosylated MUC2 precursor in goblet cells together with ultrastructural and biochemical evidence of ER stress even in non-inflamed intestinal tissue. Conclusions; The observations that mucin misfolding and ER stress lead directly to intestinal inflammation and that ER stress and goblet cell pathology occur in ulcerative colitis suggest that ER stress-related mucin depletion could be a fundamental component of the pathogenesis of colitis. Experiment Overall Design: 3 individual mice from the Eeyore, Winnie or Wild-type strains were compared as groups. An Affymetrix ID was compared between groups if the ID was Present within two of the three mice within each grouping. IDs were compared by calculating the log2 of Group One average signal divided by Group 2 average signal.