AUTHOR=Xu Chang , Jiang He , Feng Li-Juan , Jiang Min-Zhi , Wang Yu-Lin , Liu Shuang-Jiang 

TITLE=Christensenella minuta interacts with multiple gut bacteria

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1301073

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1301073

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Gut microbes form complex networks that significantly influence host health and disease treatment. Interventions with the probiotic bacteria on the gut microbiota have been demonstrated to improve host well-being. As a representative of next-generation probiotics, <italic>Christensenella minuta</italic> (<italic>C. minuta</italic>) plays a critical role in regulating energy balance and metabolic homeostasis in human bodies, showing potential in treating metabolic disorders and reducing inflammation. However, interactions of <italic>C. minuta</italic> with the members of the networked gut microbiota have rarely been explored.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this study, we investigated the impact of <italic>C. minuta</italic> on fecal microbiota via metagenomic sequencing, focusing on retrieving bacterial strains and coculture assays of <italic>C. minuta</italic> with associated microbial partners.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Our results showed that <italic>C. minuta</italic> intervention significantly reduced the diversity of fecal microorganisms, but specifically enhanced some groups of bacteria, such as Lactobacillaceae. <italic>C. minuta</italic> selectively enriched bacterial pathways that compensated for its metabolic defects on vitamin B1, B12, serine, and glutamate synthesis. Meanwhile, <italic>C. minuta</italic> cross-feeds <italic>Faecalibacterium prausnitzii</italic> and other bacteria via the production of arginine, branched-chain amino acids, fumaric acids and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic. Both metagenomic data analysis and culture experiments revealed that <italic>C. minuta</italic> negatively correlated with <italic>Klebsiella pneumoniae</italic> and 14 other bacterial taxa, while positively correlated with <italic>F. prausnitzii</italic>. Our results advance our comprehension of <italic>C. minuta</italic>’s in modulating the gut microbial network.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p><italic>C. minuta</italic> disrupts the composition of the fecal microbiota. This disturbance is manifested through cross-feeding, nutritional competition, and supplementation of its own metabolic deficiencies, resulting in the specific enrichment or inhibition of the growth of certain bacteria. This study will shed light on the application of C. minuta as a probiotic for effective interventions on gut microbiomes and improvement of host health.</p></sec>