Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Faecalibacterium prausnitziiinfluence the production of mucus glycans and the development of goblet cells in the colonic epithelium of a gnotobiotic model rodent
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 21 May 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Biology
- Vol. 11 (1), 61-13
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-11-61
Abstract
Background: The intestinal mucus layer plays a key role in the maintenance of host-microbiota homeostasis. To document the crosstalk between the host and microbiota, we used gnotobiotic models to study the influence of two major commensal bacteria, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, on this intestinal mucus layer. B. thetaiotaomicron is known to use polysaccharides from mucus, but its effect on goblet cells has not been addressed so far. F. prausnitzii is of particular physiological importance because it can be considered as a sensor and a marker of human health. We determined whether B. thetaiotaomicron affected goblet cell differentiation, mucin synthesis and glycosylation in the colonic epithelium. We then investigated how F. prausnitzii influenced the colonic epithelial responses to B. thetaiotaomicron. Results: B. thetaiotaomicron, an acetate producer, increased goblet cell differentiation, expression of mucus-related genes and the ratio of sialylated to sulfated mucins in mono-associated rats. B. thetaiotaomicron, therefore, stimulates the secretory lineage, favoring mucus production. When B. thetaiotaomicron was associated with F. prausnitzii, an acetate consumer and a butyrate producer, the effects on goblet cells and mucin glycosylation were diminished. F. prausnitzii, by attenuating the effects of B. thetaiotaomicron on mucus, may help the epithelium to maintain appropriate proportions of different cell types of the secretory lineage. Using a mucus-producing cell line, we showed that acetate up-regulated KLF4, a transcription factor involved in goblet cell differentiation. Conclusions: B. thetaiotaomicron and F. prausnitzii, which are metabolically complementary, modulate, in vivo, the intestinal mucus barrier by modifying goblet cells and mucin glycosylation. Our study reveals the importance of the balance between two main commensal bacteria in maintaining colonic epithelial homeostasis via their respective effects on mucus.Keywords
This publication has 72 references indexed in Scilit:
- Behavior of Lactobacilli Isolated from Fermented Slurry (ben-saalga) in Gnotobiotic RatsPLOS ONE, 2013
- Intestinal Goblet Cells and Mucins in Health and Disease: Recent Insights and ProgressCurrent Gastroenterology Reports, 2010
- Characterizing a model human gut microbiota composed of members of its two dominant bacterial phylaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Microbes in Gastrointestinal Health and DiseaseGastroenterology, 2009
- Mucosal Glycan Foraging Enhances Fitness and Transmission of a Saccharolytic Human Gut Bacterial SymbiontCell Host & Microbe, 2008
- Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is an anti-inflammatory commensal bacterium identified by gut microbiota analysis of Crohn disease patientsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- The inner of the two Muc2 mucin-dependent mucus layers in colon is devoid of bacteriaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Role of glycan synthesis in colonization of the mammalian gut by the bacterial symbiont Bacteroides fragilisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Symbiotic gut microbes modulate human metabolic phenotypesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- An Immunomodulatory Molecule of Symbiotic Bacteria Directs Maturation of the Host Immune SystemCell, 2005