Investigating the role of phage in the gut microbiome

项目摘要/摘要 肠道微生物群通过包括免疫系统在内的多种机制与人类健康相联系。 启动、定植抵抗和新陈代谢功能。噬菌体(噬菌体)在数量上是 这个微生物群落的主要组成部分，但研究仍然具有挑战性，特别是在 微生物丰富和多样的环境，如常规殖民的哺乳动物肠道。这个 我的实验室的首要研究目标是确定噬菌体在肠道中的因果作用 微生物组。在这个项目中，我们建议研究温和型和强力型噬菌体可以 影响肠道微生物区系。在第一个领域中，我们将描述温带之间的关系 噬菌体L及其同源细菌，大肠杆菌，在常规定植的小鼠肠道中。然后我们会研究 特定的原噬菌体编码功能的重要性，这些功能在 肠道微生物群。在第二个领域，我们将开发一种方法来耗尽来自 小鼠肠道及其对肠道微生物组、代谢组和哺乳动物宿主的意义 在饮食和抗生素中断期间。该项目的完成将产生对 噬菌体影响肠道微生物群的机制。

Project Summary / Abstract The gut microbiome is linked to human health through diverse mechanisms including immune system priming, colonization resistance, and metabolic functions. Bacteriophages (phages) are a numerically dominant component of this microbial community, but remain challenging to study especially in microbially rich and diverse contexts such as the conventionally-colonized mammalian gut. The overarching research goal of my laboratory is to characterize the causal role of phages in the gut microbiome. In this project, we propose to study two areas in which temperate and virulent phage can influence the gut microbiota. In the first area, we will characterize the relationship between temperate phage l and its cognate bacteria, E. coli, in the conventionally-colonized murine gut. We will then study the significance of specific prophage-encoded functions that are competitively advantageous within the gut microbiome. In the second area, we will develop a methodology to deplete virulent phage from the murine gut and investigate their significance to the gut microbiome, metabolome, and mammalian host during dietary and antibiotic disruption. The completion of this project will produce important insight into the mechanisms by which phage can impact the gut microbiome.