Glycan complexity dictates microbial resource allocation in the large intestine

Artur Rogowski, Jonathon A. Briggs, Jennifer C. Mortimer, Theodora Tryfona, Nicolas Terrapon, Elisabeth C. Lowe, Arnaud Baslé, Carl Morland, Alison M. Day, Hongjun Zheng, Theresa E. Rogers, Paul Thompson, Alastair R. Hawkins, Madhav P. Yadav, Bernard Henrissat, Eric C. Martens, Paul Dupree, Harry J. Gilbert () and David N. Bolam ()
Additional contact information
Artur Rogowski: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Jonathon A. Briggs: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Jennifer C. Mortimer: University of Cambridge
Theodora Tryfona: University of Cambridge
Nicolas Terrapon: Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (AFMB)
Elisabeth C. Lowe: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Arnaud Baslé: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Carl Morland: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Alison M. Day: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Hongjun Zheng: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Theresa E. Rogers: University of Michigan Medical School
Paul Thompson: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Alastair R. Hawkins: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
Madhav P. Yadav: Eastern Regional Research Center
Bernard Henrissat: Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (AFMB)
Eric C. Martens: University of Michigan Medical School
Paul Dupree: University of Cambridge
Harry J. Gilbert: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University
David N. Bolam: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract The structure of the human gut microbiota is controlled primarily through the degradation of complex dietary carbohydrates, but the extent to which carbohydrate breakdown products are shared between members of the microbiota is unclear. We show here, using xylan as a model, that sharing the breakdown products of complex carbohydrates by key members of the microbiota, such as Bacteroides ovatus, is dependent on the complexity of the target glycan. Characterization of the extensive xylan degrading apparatus expressed by B. ovatus reveals that the breakdown of the polysaccharide by the human gut microbiota is significantly more complex than previous models suggested, which were based on the deconstruction of xylans containing limited monosaccharide side chains. Our report presents a highly complex and dynamic xylan degrading apparatus that is fine-tuned to recognize the different forms of the polysaccharide presented to the human gut microbiota.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8481 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8481

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8481

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().