Genome analysis of Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010 reveals metabolic pathways for host-derived glycan foraging

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1011100107
• Publication Date: 2010-10-26T04:46:40Z
• Authors: Francesca Turroni; Francesca Bottacini; Elena Foroni; Imke Mulder; Jae-Han Kim; Aldert Zomer; Borja Sánchez; Alessandro Bidossi; Alberto Ferrarini; Vanessa Giubellini; Massimo Delledonne; Bernard Henrissat; Pedro Coutinho; Marco Oggioni; Gerald F. Fitzgerald; David Mills; Abelardo Margolles; Denise Kelly; Douwe van Sinderen; Marco Ventura
• Keywords: 570; Molecular Sequence Data; genoma; sequenziamento; genomica funzionale; Feces; 03 medical and health sciences; Polysaccharides; Humans; 0303 health sciences; Genome; Gene Expression Profiling; Bacterial; Infant, Newborn; Mucins; 500; Infant; Genomics; Newborn; 3. Good health; Intestines; Multigene Family; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Genomica; Microbiologia; Probiotici; Bifidobacterium; Genome, Bacterial; Metabolic Networks and Pathways

The human intestine is densely populated by a microbial consortium whose metabolic activities are influenced by, among others, bifidobacteria. However, the genetic basis of adaptation of bifidobacteria to the human gut is poorly understood. Analysis of the 2,214,650-bp genome of Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010, a strain isolated from infant stool, revealed a nutrient-acquisition strategy that targets host-derived glycans, such as those present in mucin. Proteome and transcriptome profiling revealed a set of chromosomal loci responsible for mucin metabolism that appear to be under common transcriptional control and with predicted functions that allow degradation of various O-linked glycans in mucin. Conservation of the latter gene clusters in various B. bifidum strains supports the notion that host-derived glycan catabolism is an important colonization factor for B. bifidum with concomitant impact on intestinal microbiota ecology.