Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Nat Microbiol. 2024 Feb;9(2):477-489. doi: 10.1038/s41564-023-01572-y. Epub 2024 Jan 15.
Diverse bacteria can colonize the animal gut using dietary nutrients or by engaging in microbial crossfeeding interactions. Less is known about the role of host-derived nutrients in enabling gut bacterial colonization. Here we examined metabolic interactions within the evolutionary ancient symbiosis between the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the core gut microbiota member Snodgrassella alvi. This betaproteobacterium is incapable of metabolizing saccharides, yet colonizes the honey bee gut in the presence of a sugar-only diet. Using comparative metabolomics, C-tracers and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), we show in vivo that S. alvi grows on host-derived organic acids, including citrate, glycerate and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarate, which are actively secreted by the host into the gut lumen. S. alvi also modulates tryptophan metabolism in the gut by converting kynurenine to anthranilate. These results suggest that S. alvi is adapted to a specific metabolic niche in the honey bee gut that depends on host-derived nutritional resources.
不同的细菌可以利用膳食营养物质或通过微生物交叉喂养相互作用来定植动物肠道。然而,关于宿主来源的营养物质在促进肠道细菌定植方面的作用知之甚少。在这里,我们研究了在蜜蜂蜜蜂(Apis mellifera)和核心肠道微生物群成员 Snodgrassella alvi 之间古老的共生关系中发生的代谢相互作用。这种β变形菌不能代谢糖,但在仅含糖的饮食存在的情况下仍能定植于蜜蜂肠道。通过比较代谢组学、C 示踪剂和纳米二次离子质谱 (NanoSIMS),我们在体内表明,S. alvi 以宿主衍生的有机酸(包括柠檬酸、甘油酸和 3-羟基-3-甲基戊二酸)为食,这些有机酸是宿主主动分泌到肠道腔中的。S. alvi 还通过将犬尿氨酸转化为邻氨基苯甲酸来调节肠道中的色氨酸代谢。这些结果表明,S. alvi 适应于依赖于宿主来源营养资源的蜜蜂肠道中的特定代谢生态位。