Metabolic cross-feeding in imbalanced diets allows gut microbes to improve reproduction and alter host behaviour

Henriques, S. F. et al. (2020) Metabolic cross-feeding in imbalanced diets allows gut microbes to improve reproduction and alter host behaviour. Nature Communications, 11, 4236. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18049-9) (PMID:32843654) (PMCID:PMC7447780)

Abstract

The impact of commensal bacteria on the host arises from complex microbial-diet-host interactions. Mapping metabolic interactions in gut microbial communities is therefore key to understand how the microbiome influences the host. Here we use an interdisciplinary approach including isotope-resolved metabolomics to show that in Drosophila melanogaster, Acetobacter pomorum (Ap) and Lactobacillus plantarum (Lp) a syntrophic relationship is established to overcome detrimental host diets and identify Ap as the bacterium altering the host’s feeding decisions. Specifically, we show that Ap uses the lactate produced by Lp to supply amino acids that are essential to Lp, allowing it to grow in imbalanced diets. Lactate is also necessary and sufficient for Ap to alter the fly’s protein appetite. Our data show that gut bacterial communities use metabolic interactions to become resilient to detrimental host diets. These interactions also ensure the constant flow of metabolites used by the microbiome to alter reproduction and host behaviour.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Maddocks, Professor Oliver and Zhang, Mr Tong
• Authors: Henriques, S. F., Dhakan, D. B., Serra, L., Francisco, A. P., Carvalho-Santos, Z., Baltazar, C., Elias, A. P., Anjos, M., Zhang, T., Maddocks, O. D.K., and Ribeiro, C.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 11: 4236
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
171982		Targeting Tumour Metabolism for Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis.	Oliver Maddocks	Cancer Research UK (CRUK)	C53309/A19702	Institute of Cancer Sciences