Kaktcham Pierre Marie, Kujawska Magdalena, Kouam Edith Marius Foko, Piame Laverdure Tchamani, Tientcheu Michele Letitia Tchabou, Mueller Julia, Felsl Angela, Truppel Bastian-Alexander, Ngoufack François Zambou, Hall Lindsay J
Research Unit of Biochemistry of Medicinal Plants, Food Science and Nutrition (URBPMAN) - Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Cameroon. P.O Box 67, Dschang, Cameroon.
Intestinal Microbiome, ZIEL - Institute for Food & Health, Technical University of Munich, Freising, 85354, Germany.
Microb Genom. 2025 Feb;11(2). doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001354.
A healthy early-life gut microbiota plays an important role in maintaining immediate and long-term health. Perturbations, particularly in low- to middle-income communities, are associated with increased infection risk. Thus, a promising avenue for restoring a healthy infant microbiota is to select key beneficial bacterial candidates from underexplored microbiomes for developing new probiotic-based therapies. This study aimed to recover bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria from the faeces of healthy Cameroonian infants and unravel the genetic basis of their beneficial properties. Faecal samples were collected from 26 infants aged 0-5 months recruited in Dschang (Cameroon). Recovered bacterial isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing and analysis to assess their potential for carbohydrate utilization, their antimicrobial capacities, host-adaptation capabilities and their safety. From the range of infant-associated and strains identified, species were found to harbour putative gene clusters implicated in human milk oligosaccharide metabolism. Genes linked to the production of antimicrobial peptides such as class IV lanthipeptides were found in , while those implicated in biosynthesis of cytolysins, enterolysins, enterocins and propeptins, among others, were identified in enterococci. Bifidobacterial isolates did not contain genes associated with virulence; however, we detected the presence of putative tetracycline resistance genes in several strains belonging to subsp. and subsp. . Among the enterococci, PM10 did not carry any genes associated with antimicrobial resistance or virulence. The latter, together with all the strains, also encoded several putative adaptive and stress-response-related genes, suggesting robust gastroinstestinal tract colonization potential. This work provides the first genomic characterization of and isolates from Cameroonian infants. Several strains showed the genomic potential to confer beneficial properties. Further phenotypic and clinical investigations are needed to confirm their suitability as customized probiotics.
健康的早期肠道微生物群在维持近期和长期健康方面发挥着重要作用。微生物群的扰动，尤其是在低收入和中等收入社区，与感染风险增加有关。因此，恢复健康婴儿微生物群的一个有前景的途径是从未充分探索的微生物群中选择关键的有益细菌候选物，以开发新的基于益生菌的疗法。本研究旨在从健康喀麦隆婴儿的粪便中分离双歧杆菌和乳酸菌，并揭示其有益特性的遗传基础。从喀麦隆雅温得招募的26名0至5个月大的婴儿中采集粪便样本。对分离出的细菌进行全基因组测序和分析，以评估它们利用碳水化合物的潜力、抗菌能力、宿主适应能力及其安全性。在所鉴定的一系列与婴儿相关的菌株中，发现双歧杆菌属物种含有与母乳寡糖代谢相关的推定基因簇。在肠球菌中发现了与IV类羊毛硫肽等抗菌肽产生相关的基因，而在肠球菌中还鉴定出了与溶细胞素、肠溶素、肠球菌素和前肽素生物合成等相关的基因。双歧杆菌分离株不包含与毒力相关的基因；然而，我们在属于长双歧杆菌亚种和短双歧杆菌亚种的几个菌株中检测到推定的四环素抗性基因的存在。在肠球菌中，肠球菌PM10不携带任何与抗菌抗性或毒力相关的基因。后者与所有双歧杆菌菌株一起，还编码了几个推定的适应性和应激反应相关基因，表明其具有强大的胃肠道定殖潜力。这项工作首次对喀麦隆婴儿的双歧杆菌和肠球菌分离株进行了基因组表征。几个菌株显示出具有赋予有益特性的基因组潜力。需要进一步的表型和临床研究来确认它们作为定制益生菌的适用性。
