Versatile Gut Bacterium Helps People Reach Daily Fiber Intake

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have recently discovered how a common gut bacterium helps the body metabolize components of dietary fiber from the cell walls of fruits and vegetables.

Many findings illuminate the specialized roles of the key microbial community that lives within the human gut and informs the development of tailored microbiota transplants to improve intestinal health after antibiotic use or illness.

"While they are vital to our diet, the long chains of natural polymeric carbohydrates that make up dietary fibre are impossible for humans to digest without the aid of our resident bacteria," said UBC professor Harry Brumer, with UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories and Department of Chemistry, and senior author of the study, via a press release. "This newly discovered sequence of genes enables Bacteroides ovatus to chop up xyloglucan, a major type of dietary fibre found in many vegetables - from lettuce leaves to tomato fruits. B. ovatus and its complex system of enzymes provide a crucial part of our digestive toolkit."

Background information from the study shows that approximately 92 percent of the population carries bacteria along with a variant of the gene sequence, based on a survey of public genome data from 250 adult humans.

"The next question is whether other groups in the consortium of gut bacteria work in concert with, or in competition with, Bacteroides ovatus to target these, and other, complex carbohydrates," Brumer said, via the release.

 More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Nature.