Deciphering lactobacillus functionality

乳酸菌是一种细菌，其在食品发酵中的使用至少可以追溯到圣经时代。它们存在于各种食物和饮料中，通常被认为是人类和动物使用的安全微生物。将乳酸杆菌施用到肠道和阴道，称为益生菌，长期以来一直被用作帮助恢复和保持健康的方法。 然而，人们对这些生物如何在食物中以及与宿主的界面上生存和繁殖知之甚少。我们的目标是调查一些选择菌株的乳酸杆菌的遗传密码，并在这样做开发新的工具，将有更广泛的使用细菌基因组测序。其次，我们需要更好地了解微生物群落的组成，不仅要了解各种治疗方法如何改变它们，还要帮助开发新的方法来维持它们的无毒平衡。我们有独特的渠道获得艾滋病毒患者在抗生素和益生菌治疗前后的阴道样本。我们打算开发一种新的方法来破译存在的细菌类型，以及它们如何随着时间的推移而变化。一旦我们做到了这一点，这项技术就可以用于水，土壤和其他存在不同微生物群落的样品。综上所述，乳酸杆菌为我们在微生物基因组学和生物信息学方面取得重大突破提供了一个很好的模型。通过这个项目，我们将加强我们在微生物群和益生菌领域的地位。

Lactobacillus are bacteria whose usage in food fermentation dates back at least to Biblical times. They are present in a variety of foods and drinks and are generally regarded as safe microbes for human and animal use. The administration of lactobacilli to the intestine and vagina, referred to as probiotics, has been long used as a method to help restore and maintain health. However, relatively little has been known about how these organisms survive and flourish within foods and at the interface with the host. We aim to investigate the genetic code of some select strains of lactobacilli, and in doing so develop novel tools that will have wider use for bacterial geneomic sequencing. Secondly, we need to better understand the composition of microbial communities not only to see how various treatments change them, but also to help develop new ways to maintain them in a non-toxic equilibrium. We have unique access to vaginal samples from HIV patients before and after treatment with antibiotics and probiotics. We intend developing a novel way of deciphering the types of bacteria that are present, and how they change over time. Once we have done this, the technique could be used for water, soil, and other samples where diverse microbial communities exist. In summary, lactobacilli provide a good model for us to make significant breakthroughs in microbial genomics and bioinformatics. Through this project, we will strengthen our position in the areas of microbiota and probiotics.