Gut Bacteria Metabolize Dietary Nutrients, Expanding Host Capacities

摘要

Gut microbes break down dietary nutrients that their hosts cannot, conferring novel metabolic capabilities that can shape the health of those hosts. Microbiota-mediated metabolism can create diet-dependent positive or negative selective pressure to drive host evolution. It fits neatly with the Hologenome Concept, in which genes from symbiotic organisms contribute to themselves and the host, says Eugene Rosenberg of Tel Aviv University, Israel, who spoke during the plenary session, "Who's in Charge? How Microbes Affect Animal Behavior," during the 2012 ASM General Meeting, held in San Francisco, Calif., last June.