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Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality

The human gut microbiome provides us with functional features that we did not have to evolve ourselves and can be viewed as a structured microbial community that operates like a microbial organ within the human host. A minor but important part of this microbiome is the ability to colonise and thrive...

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Autores principales: De Weirdt, Rosemarie, Van de Wiele, Tom
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5515210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28721237
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjbiofilms.2015.26
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author De Weirdt, Rosemarie
Van de Wiele, Tom
author_facet De Weirdt, Rosemarie
Van de Wiele, Tom
author_sort De Weirdt, Rosemarie
collection PubMed
description The human gut microbiome provides us with functional features that we did not have to evolve ourselves and can be viewed as a structured microbial community that operates like a microbial organ within the human host. A minor but important part of this microbiome is the ability to colonise and thrive within the mucous layer that covers the colon epithelium. These mucosal microbes intimately interact with the intestinal tissue and seem to be important modulators of human health. Embedded in the host-secreted mucous matrix, they form a ‘mucosal biofilm’ with a distinct composition and functionality. In this review, we provide evidence that six specific (micro)environmental factors near the colon mucosa shape and determine mucosal biofilm formation and stability, that is, (1) mucous rigidity, (2) gradients of fluid shear, (3) radial oxygen gradients, (4) secretions of host defense molecules, (5) the presence of a rich but challenging nutrient platform and (6) the presence of niches at the colon epithelial surface. In addition, it appears that microbes actively participate in shaping their mucosal environment. Current insights into the interaction between mucosal microbes and their environment are rather limited, and many questions regarding the contribution of mucosal biofilm functionality and stability to human health remain to be answered. Yet, given the higher potency of mucosal microbes than their luminal counterparts to interact with the host, new insights can accelerate the development of novel disease-preventive or therapeutic strategies.
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spelling pubmed-55152102017-07-18 Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality De Weirdt, Rosemarie Van de Wiele, Tom NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes Review Article The human gut microbiome provides us with functional features that we did not have to evolve ourselves and can be viewed as a structured microbial community that operates like a microbial organ within the human host. A minor but important part of this microbiome is the ability to colonise and thrive within the mucous layer that covers the colon epithelium. These mucosal microbes intimately interact with the intestinal tissue and seem to be important modulators of human health. Embedded in the host-secreted mucous matrix, they form a ‘mucosal biofilm’ with a distinct composition and functionality. In this review, we provide evidence that six specific (micro)environmental factors near the colon mucosa shape and determine mucosal biofilm formation and stability, that is, (1) mucous rigidity, (2) gradients of fluid shear, (3) radial oxygen gradients, (4) secretions of host defense molecules, (5) the presence of a rich but challenging nutrient platform and (6) the presence of niches at the colon epithelial surface. In addition, it appears that microbes actively participate in shaping their mucosal environment. Current insights into the interaction between mucosal microbes and their environment are rather limited, and many questions regarding the contribution of mucosal biofilm functionality and stability to human health remain to be answered. Yet, given the higher potency of mucosal microbes than their luminal counterparts to interact with the host, new insights can accelerate the development of novel disease-preventive or therapeutic strategies. Nature Publishing Group 2015-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC5515210/ /pubmed/28721237 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjbiofilms.2015.26 Text en Copyright © 2015 Nanyang Technological University/Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Review Article
De Weirdt, Rosemarie
Van de Wiele, Tom
Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title_full Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title_fullStr Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title_full_unstemmed Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title_short Micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
title_sort micromanagement in the gut: microenvironmental factors govern colon mucosal biofilm structure and functionality
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5515210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28721237
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjbiofilms.2015.26
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