News Excerpt:
A University of Oxford-led study has found that diverse communities of resident commensal gut bacteria collectively protect the human gut from disease-causing microorganisms by consuming the nutrients that the pathogen would need to be able to gain a foothold in the host.
What are the Gut Microbes?
Gut microbes are microorganisms, which consist of bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses that live in the digestive tracts of the human body.
Key findings of the study:
- Researchers found that the ecological diversity of the human gut bacteria protects the gut against invading pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) that could cause harmful infections.
- These communities block pathogen growth by consuming nutrients that would be required by the pathogen.
- The nutrient-blocking effect is a property of the entire community rather than of any one species alone.
- A major health benefit provided by the gut microbiota is protection against pathogen colonization and subsequent infection; a phenomenon known as colonization resistance.
- By assessing the genomes of the different bacterial species, the scientists found that the most protective communities were composed of species with highly similar protein compositions to the pathogenic species.
- They also found that specific members of the bacterial communities - and not just the overall diversity - had a critical effect on the level of protection.
