Molecular and Cellu lar Biology Seminar | Gut microbiome and host interaction, Oct. 3

The Molecular and Cellular Biology Seminar series (MCB7410) features Bijay Gurung discussing "Gut microbiome and host interaction" on Oct. 3 at 3:30 PM in Porter Hall Room 104.

Bijay Gurung is a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at Ohio University.

Abstract: Gut microbiome is the collection of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. The gut microbiomes comprise coexisting populations of commensal and mutualistic bacteria, fungi, virus and archaea. Understanding the interactions between the gut microbiome and host is important as these organisms have been found to influence several processes like immune and neuroendocrine responses, metabolism, and microbes' production of secondary metabolites can strengthen gut health. As, gut microbiome has an important role in the wellbeing of the hosts, disruptions in the normal gut microbiome are associated with several diseases. Several factors like medication (antibiotics), diet, environment, maternal microbiomes, etc. can influence the population of microbiomes. Along with that, host genetics can also affect the gut microbiome compositions. Different model organisms, like mice, drosophila, and honeybee have been used as model organisms to study the interactions between the gut microbiome and host. Berg et al. 2019, used Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism, to understand the influence of host immune signaling in the microbiome population and possible pathogenic activity of a normal commensal Enterobacter. However, characteristics of microbes are also an important aspect of host-microbe interactions and ultimately forming symbiosis with host. Study by Obeng et al., 2023 showed the importance of microbial evolution, where upregulation of cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) in Pseudomonas led to increased host association in Caenorhabditis elegans . 

Berg, M., Monnin, D., Cho, J., Nelson, L., Crits-Christoph, A., & Shapira, M. (2019). TGFβ/BMP immune signaling affects abundance and function of C. elegans gut commensals. Nature Communications , 10 (1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08379-8

Obeng, N., Czerwinski, A., Schütz, D., Michels, J., Leipert, J., Bansept, F., García García, M. J., Schultheiß, T., Kemlein, M., Fuß, J., Tholey, A., Traulsen, A., Sondermann, H., & Schulenburg, H. (2023). Bacterial c-di-GMP has a key role in establishing host–microbe symbiosis. Nature Microbiology , 8 (10), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01468-x