Humans and other mammals are colonized by a vast, complex, and dynamic consortium of microorganisms. One evolutionary driving force for maintaining this metabolically active microbial society is to salvage energy from nutrients, particularly carbohydrates, that are otherwise nondigestible by the host. Much of our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which members of the intestinal microbiota degrade complex polysaccharides comes from studies of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a prominent and genetically manipulatable component of the normal human and mouse gut. Colonization of germ-free mice with B. thetaiotaomicron has shown how this anaerobe modifies many aspects of intestinal cellular differentiation/gene expression to benefit both host and microbe. These and other studies underscore the importance of understanding precisely how nutrient metabolism serves to establish and sustain symbiotic relationships between mammals and their bacterial partners.

How host-microbial interactions shape the nutrient environment of the mammalian intestine

Mucins in the mucosal barrier to infection.

Microbial modulation of innate defense: goblet cells and the intestinal mucus layer

Some cases of late-onset (regressive) autism may involve abnormal flora because oral vancomycin, which is poorly absorbed, may lead to significant improvement in these children. Fecal flora of children with regressive autism was compared with that of control children, and clostridial counts were higher. The number of clostridial species found in the stools of children with autism was greater than in the stools of control children. Children with autism had 9 species of Clostridium not found in controls, whereas controls yielded only 3 species not found in children with autism. In all, there were 25 different clostridial species found. In gastric and duodenal specimens, the most striking finding was total absence of non-spore-forming anaerobes and microaerophilic bacteria from control children and significant numbers of such bacteria from children with autism. These studies demonstrate significant alterations in the upper and lower intestinal flora of children with late-onset autism and may provide insights into the nature of this disorder.

/pdf/gastrointestinal-microflora-studies-in-late-onset-autism-37op8m56c4.pdf

Gastrointestinal Microflora Studies in Late-Onset Autism

The availability of host and dietary carbohydrates in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a key role in shaping the structure-function of the microbiota. In particular, some gut bacteria have the ability to forage on glycans provided by the mucus layer covering the GI tract. The O-glycan structures present in mucin are diverse and complex, consisting predominantly of core 1-4 mucin-type O-glycans containing α- and β- linked N-acetyl-galactosamine, galactose and N-acetyl-glucosamine. These core structures are further elongated and frequently modified by fucose and sialic acid sugar residues via α1,2/3/4 and α2,3/6 linkages, respectively. The ability to metabolize these mucin O-linked oligosaccharides is likely to be a key factor in determining which bacterial species colonise the mucosal surface. Due to their proximity to the immune system, mucin-degrading bacteria are in a prime location to influence the host response. However, despite the growing number of bacterial genome sequences available from mucin degraders, our knowledge on the structural requirements for mucin degradation by gut bacteria remains fragmented. This is largely due to the limited number of functionally characterized enzymes and the lack of studies correlating the specificity of these enzymes with the ability of the strain to degrade and utilize mucin and mucin glycans. This review focuses on recent findings unravelling the molecular strategies used by mucin-degrading bacteria to utilise host glycans, adapt to the mucosal environment, and influence human health.

/pdf/mucin-glycan-foraging-in-the-human-gut-microbiome-4g9d0csw71.pdf

Mucin glycan foraging in the human gut microbiome

Oligosaccharide side chains of human colonic mucins contain O-acetylated sialic acids and glycosulfate esters. Although these substituents are considered to protect the chains against degradation by bacterial glycosidases, sialate O-acetylesterase, N-acetylneuraminate lyase, and glycosulfatase activities have been found in fecal extracts. To better define the source of these activities, we measured extracellular and cell-bound sialidase, sialate O-acetylesterase, N-acetylneuraminate lyase, arylesterase, and glycosulfatase activities produced by 23 isolates of human fecal bacteria grown anaerobically in a hog gastric mucin culture medium; these represented dominant populations of fecal anaerobes, facultative anaerobes, and the subset of mucin oligosaccharide-degrading bacteria. Every strain produced sialidase and high levels of arylesterase, and all but five facultative anaerobes produced sialate O-acetylesterase. Sialic acids containing 2 mol or more of O-acetyl ester per mol of sialic acid were cleaved from mucin glycoproteins more slowly by sialidases of mucin oligosaccharide-degrading stains than were sialic acids containing 1 or 0 mol, and only N-acetyl- and mono-O-acetylated sialic acids were recovered from enzyme digests of a mucin containing di-O-acetylated sialic acids. No detectable N-acetylneuraminate lyase activity was produced by any strain, but low activity was induced by increasing the glycoprotein-bound sialic acid concentration in the culture medium of six Escherichia coli strains. Using lactitol-6-sulfate as a substrate, we found weak glycosulfatase activity in the partially purified, concentrated enzyme mixture in the culture supernatants of four mucin oligosaccharide-degrading strains but in none of the unconcentrated culture fractions. We conclude that the presence of two or more O-acetyl groups on sialic acids inhibits enteric bacterial sialidases but that production of sialate O-acetylesterases by several populations of enteric bacteria lessens the likelihood that mucin oligosaccharide chains terminating in O-acetylated sialic acids are protected from degradation. Sialate O-acetylesterases have a role in bacterial degradation of mucin glycoproteins in the human colon. Images

Mucin degradation in the human colon: production of sialidase, sialate O-acetylesterase, N-acetylneuraminate lyase, arylesterase, and glycosulfatase activities by strains of fecal bacteria.

L C Hoskins

Papers

Mucin degradation in the human colon: production of sialidase, sialate O-acetylesterase, N-acetylneuraminate lyase, arylesterase, and glycosulfatase activities by strains of fecal bacteria.