Ecological niche assignment in the gut microbiome on an ecosystem-level scale

项目摘要 肠道微生物组包括数百种微生物物种，它们栖息在人类胃肠道中， 以各种方式影响宿主的健康。不同的微生物共存于肠道中， 定植策略，共同产生了一个复杂的微生物生态系统， 特性.尽管特殊的生态作用在解释组成和 由于微生物组的功能，大多数肠道微生物采用的定植策略仍然很差 定义了拟议的研究将采取两种方法来广泛分配殖民战略， 肠道微生物拟议项目的第一部分将采用比较基因组分析，以确定 在整个肠道微生物组中建立微生物功能的分布，并指导新的微生物的发现。 殖民战略。该项目的第二部分将利用无偏生长测定来鉴定 微生物群落适应不同的殖民策略。鉴定的分子基础 殖民策略将通过遗传和生物化学的应用进一步询问， 接近。通过将生态环境分配给肠道微生物群的不同成员，这些研究将 推进对肠道生态系统的基本了解，这可能有利于诊断和 基于微生物组的治疗技术。

PROJECT SUMMARY The gut microbiome comprises hundreds of microbial species that inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract and impact host health in a myriad of ways. Diverse microbes coexist in the gut by specializing in distinct colonization strategies which collectively give rise to a complex microbial ecosystem with emergent functional properties. Despite the critical nature of the specialized ecological roles in explaining the composition and function of the microbiome, colonization strategies employed by the majority of gut microbes remains poorly defined. The proposed research will take two approaches to broadly assign colonization strategies to diverse gut microbes. A first part of the proposed project will employ comparative genome analyses to determine the distribution of established microbial functions across the gut microbiome and to guide the discovery of novel colonization strategies. A second part of the project will utilize unbiased growth assays to identify members of the microbial community adapted for diverse colonization strategies. The molecular basis of identified colonization strategies will be further interrogated through the application of genetic and biochemical approaches. By assigning ecological context to diverse members of the gut microbiota, these studies will advance a basic understanding of the gut ecosystem that could benefit the development of diagnostic and therapeutic microbiome-based technologies.