Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States.
Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States.
Elife. 2021 Mar 8;10:e64478. doi: 10.7554/eLife.64478.
Methods for measuring gut microbiota biochemical activities in vivo are needed to characterize its functional states in health and disease. To illustrate one approach, an arabinan-containing polysaccharide was isolated from pea fiber, its structure defined, and forward genetic and proteomic analyses used to compare its effects, versus unfractionated pea fiber and sugar beet arabinan, on a human gut bacterial strain consortium in gnotobiotic mice. We produced 'Microbiota Functional Activity Biosensors' (MFABs) consisting of glycans covalently linked to the surface of fluorescent paramagnetic microscopic glass beads. Three MFABs, each containing a unique glycan/fluorophore combination, were simultaneously orally gavaged into gnotobiotic mice, recovered from their intestines, and analyzed to directly quantify bacterial metabolism of structurally distinct arabinans in different human diet contexts. Colocalizing pea-fiber arabinan and another polysaccharide (glucomannan) on the bead surface enhanced in vivo degradation of glucomannan. MFABs represent a potentially versatile platform for developing new prebiotics and more nutritious foods.
需要有测量肠道微生物生化活性的方法，以描述其在健康和疾病中的功能状态。为了说明一种方法，我们从豌豆纤维中分离出一种含有阿拉伯聚糖的多糖，对其结构进行了定义，并进行正向遗传学和蛋白质组学分析，比较其与未分级的豌豆纤维和糖甜菜阿拉伯聚糖对共生小鼠人肠道细菌菌株混合物的影响。我们制备了“微生物功能活性生物传感器”（MFABs），由荧光顺磁微玻璃珠表面共价连接的聚糖组成。将三种 MFABs 同时口服给予无菌小鼠，从其肠道中回收，并进行分析，以直接定量不同人类饮食背景下结构不同的阿拉伯聚糖的细菌代谢情况。在珠表面上共定位豌豆纤维阿拉伯聚糖和另一种多糖（葡甘露聚糖）增强了葡甘露聚糖的体内降解。MFABs 代表了开发新型益生元和更有营养食品的潜在多功能平台。
