Project description:Dietary fiber degradation is a key function of the human gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to increase our knowledge on the degradation of plant cell wall polysaccharide degradation by a prominent human gut bacterial species, Bacteroides xylanisolvens. The transcriptome analysis of B. xylanisolvens XB1AT revealed the existence of six and two genomic loci dedicated to the degradation of pectins and xylan, respectively. These loci or PUL ("Polysaccharide Utilization Loci") are known to encode enzyme systems in Bacteroides that are specific to a particular polysaccharide.
Project description:Dietary fiber degradation is a key function of the human gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to increase our knowledge on the degradation of plant cell wall polysaccharide degradation by a prominent human gut bacterial species, Bacteroides xylanisolvens. The transcriptome analysis of B. xylanisolvens XB1AT revealed the existence of six and two genomic loci dedicated to the degradation of pectins and xylan, respectively. These loci or PUL ("Polysaccharide Utilization Loci") are known to encode enzyme systems in Bacteroides that are specific to a particular polysaccharide. Simple two-way comparisons between pectin or xylan sources (treatment) and glucose or xylose (control), collected during mid- and late-log phase. Three replicates per condition.
Project description:Purpose: Examining the transcriptome of human gut bacteria (Bacteroides xylanisolvens/Bacteroides ovatus) that grow on mucin O-linked glycans as a sole carbon source Methods: Strains were grown on 10 mg/ml mucin O-linked glycans (MOG) or 5 mg/ml glucose as a sole carbon source in vitro. Fold change was calculated as MOG over glucose. Once cells reached an optical density corresponding to mid-log phase growth, RNA was isolated and rRNA depleted. Samples were multiplexed for sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq platform at the University of Michigan Sequencing Core. Data was analyzed using Arraystar software (DNASTAR, Inc.) Genes with significant up- or down-regulation were determined by the following criteria: genes with an average fold-change >10-fold and biological replicates with a normalized expression level >1% of the overall average RPKM expression level. Results: We identified genes activated in response to mucin O-linked glycans from Bacteroides xylanisolvens/Bacteroides ovatus strains
