Project description:Insufficient dietary fiber intake is strongly associated with gut microbiome dysfunction and an increased risk of noncommunicable diseases. Synergistic synbiotics, which pair defined microbial strains with their preferred carbohydrate substrates, offer a promising strategy to restore these functions. However, the rational design of such interventions remains challenging by insufficient understanding of microbial fiber-degrading capacities and the host-relevant bioactivities of fermentation-derived metabolites. Here, we identify human colonic commensal Bacteroides intestinalis (B. intestinalis) as a key microbial mediator of dietary fiber-driven metabolic, immune, and neuronal benefits. We demonstrate that the synergistic interaction between B. intestinalis and its preferred substrate, insoluble wheat arabinoxylan abundant in dietary fiber, enhances the production of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-diabetic phenolic compounds and bile acid species. These metabolic effects are accompanied by coordinated transcriptional remodeling in the colon and spleen that improve circadian rhythm regulation, lipid metabolism, and immune defense. Importantly, these beneficial effects are preserved in conventionally raised mice with established high fat diet-induced obesity, where BI and inWAX improves glucose tolerance along with an increased production of neuroactive compounds. Our findings uncover a mechanistic framework linking B. intestinalis-mediated fiber fermentation to gut–liver–brain crosstalk and establish a rational foundation for precision synbiotic design.
Project description:To investigate the transcriptional responses of intestinal epithelial cells and Giardia intestinalis, assemblage A isolate WB-C6, trophozoites during infection, we infected human enteroids with preconditioned trophozoites for 1h and 3h. Giardia intestinalis trophozoites were preconditioned before the infection with either DMEM/F-12 or DMEM/F-12 supplemented with 10% FBS to modify the trophozoites’ fitness.
Project description:Strain Bacteroides intestinalis TSDC17.2-1.1 (species Bacteroides intestinalis) was isolated from the fecal microbiota of a USA female at time point zero (bacterial isolates were sequenced from this donor on day 0 and 49). The species name was assigned by genome clustering.