Molecular characterization of mixed-species bacterial biofilms in the gastrointestinal tract

肠道微生物群（在胃肠道定植的微生物群落）在人类健康和疾病中起着重要作用，但对脊椎动物肠道中宿主-微生物共生相互作用的基本原理知之甚少。特别是，多物种肠道生物膜的细菌成员之间的相互作用尚未得到研究，但这些知识对于制定调节肠道微生物群以改善健康的策略至关重要。利用gnotobiotic小鼠（具有确定的微生物群的小鼠），申请人的小组已经开发了一种独特的模型，通过该模型来解开有助于胃肠道中生物膜形成的细菌功能。使用这个模型，我们已经证明，选择性的生物膜形成在小鼠胃作为一个关键的机制，宿主特异性是促进物种罗伊氏乳杆菌，并已开始阐明的分子过程，形成生物膜的基础。然而，我们对这些生物膜如何在自然界中发生的混合物种种群的背景下发挥作用和进化知之甚少。

The gut microbiota (the community of microbes that colonizes the gastrointestinal tract) plays important roles in human health and disease, but little is known about the basic principles that underlie host-microbial symbiotic interactions in the vertebrate gut. In particular, the interactions between the bacterial members of multi-species intestinal biofilms have not been studied at all, but such knowledge is essential for the development of strategies that modulate the gut microbiota to improve health. Capitalizing on gnotobiotic mice (mice with a defined microbiota), the applicant’s group has developed a unique model by which to disentangle the bacterial functions that contribute to biofilm formation in the gastrointestinal tract. Using this model, we have demonstrated that selective biofilm formation in the mouse stomach as a key mechanism by which host specificity is facilitated in the species Lactobacillus reuteri, and have begun to elucidate the molecular processes that underlie formation of biofilms. However, we know little about how these biofilms function and evolve in the context of the mixed species populations that occur in nature.