The human commensal Bacteroides fragilis binds intestinal mucin

The mammalian gastrointestinal tract harbors a vast microbial ecosystem, known as the microbiota, which benefits host biology. Bacteroides fragilis is an important anaerobic gut commensal of humans that prevents and cures intestinal inflammation. We wished to elucidate aspects of gut colonization em...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anaerobe 2011-08, Vol.17 (4), p.137-141
Main Authors: Huang, Julie Y., Lee, S. Melanie, Mazmanian, Sarkis K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesion
Animals
Bacteroides fragilis
Bacteroides fragilis - growth & development
Bacteroides fragilis - metabolism
colon
Colon - cytology
Colon - microbiology
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - growth & development
Escherichia coli - physiology
flow cytometry
fluorescence in situ hybridization
Germ-Free Life
Gut commensal
Humans
image analysis
inflammation
Intestinal Mucosa - microbiology
Male
Metagenome - physiology
Mice
microbial ecology
Microbiota
microorganisms
Mucin
mucins
Mucins - metabolism
mucus
Swine
symbiosis
Symbiosis - physiology
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Summary:The mammalian gastrointestinal tract harbors a vast microbial ecosystem, known as the microbiota, which benefits host biology. Bacteroides fragilis is an important anaerobic gut commensal of humans that prevents and cures intestinal inflammation. We wished to elucidate aspects of gut colonization employed by B. fragilis. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on colonic tissue sections from B. fragilis and Escherichia coli dual-colonized gnotobiotic mice. Epifluorescence imaging reveals that both E. coli and B. fragilis are found in the lumen of the colon, but only B. fragilis is found in the mucosal layer. This observation suggests that physical association with intestinal mucus could be a possible mechanism of gut colonization by B. fragilis. We investigated this potential interaction using an in vitro mucus binding assay and show here that B. fragilis binds to murine colonic mucus. We further demonstrate that B. fragilis specifically and quantitatively binds to highly purified mucins (the major constituent in intestinal mucus) using flow cytometry analysis of fluorescently labeled purified murine and porcine mucins. These results suggest that interactions between B. fragilis and intestinal mucin may play a critical role during host-bacterial symbiosis.
ISSN:1075-9964
1095-8274
DOI:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2011.05.017