TY - JOUR
T1 - Biochemistry of complex glycan depolymerisation by the human gut microbiota
AU - Ndeh, Didier
AU - Gilbert, Harry J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by an advanced grant from the European Research Council (Grant 322 820)
Publisher Copyright:
© FEMS 2018.
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - The human gut microbiota (HGM) makes an important contribution to health and disease. It is a complex microbial community of trillions of microbes with a majority of its members represented within two phyla, the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, although it also contains species of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Reflecting its importance, the HGM is sometimes referred to as an 'organ' as it performs functions analogous to systemic tissues within the human host. The major nutrients available to the HGM are host and dietary complex carbohydrates. To utilise these nutrient sources, the HGM has developed elaborate, variable and sophisticated systems for the sensing, capture and utilisation of these glycans. Understanding nutrient acquisition by the HGM can thus provide mechanistic insights into the dynamics of this ecosystem, and how it impacts human health. Dietary nutrient sources include a wide variety of simple and complex plant and animal-derived glycans most of which are not degraded by enzymes in the digestive tract of the host. Here we review how various adaptive mechanisms that operate across the major phyla of the HGM contribute to glycan utilisation, focusing on the most complex carbohydrates presented to this ecosystem.
AB - The human gut microbiota (HGM) makes an important contribution to health and disease. It is a complex microbial community of trillions of microbes with a majority of its members represented within two phyla, the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, although it also contains species of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Reflecting its importance, the HGM is sometimes referred to as an 'organ' as it performs functions analogous to systemic tissues within the human host. The major nutrients available to the HGM are host and dietary complex carbohydrates. To utilise these nutrient sources, the HGM has developed elaborate, variable and sophisticated systems for the sensing, capture and utilisation of these glycans. Understanding nutrient acquisition by the HGM can thus provide mechanistic insights into the dynamics of this ecosystem, and how it impacts human health. Dietary nutrient sources include a wide variety of simple and complex plant and animal-derived glycans most of which are not degraded by enzymes in the digestive tract of the host. Here we review how various adaptive mechanisms that operate across the major phyla of the HGM contribute to glycan utilisation, focusing on the most complex carbohydrates presented to this ecosystem.
KW - Enzymology
KW - Glycoside hydrolases
KW - Human gut microbiota
KW - Nutrient cross feeding
KW - Polysaccharide lyases
KW - Structural biology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046073683&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/femsre/fuy002
DO - 10.1093/femsre/fuy002
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29325042
AN - SCOPUS:85046073683
VL - 42
SP - 146
EP - 164
JO - FEMS Microbiology Reviews
JF - FEMS Microbiology Reviews
SN - 0168-6445
IS - 2
ER -