Complex Glycan Catabolism by the Human Gut Microbiota: the Bacteroidetes Sus-like Paradigm

Overview

Journal J Biol Chem

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2009 Jun 26

PMID 19553672

Citations 303

Authors

Eric C Martens

Nicole M Koropatkin

Thomas J Smith

Jeffrey I Gordon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Trillions of microbes inhabit the distal gut of adult humans. They have evolved to compete efficiently for nutrients, including a wide array of chemically diverse, complex glycans present in our diets, secreted by our intestinal mucosa, and displayed on the surfaces of other gut microbes. Here, we review how members of the Bacteroidetes, one of two dominant gut-associated bacterial phyla, process complex glycans using a series of similarly patterned, cell envelope-associated multiprotein systems. These systems provide insights into how gut, as well as terrestrial and aquatic, Bacteroidetes survive in highly competitive ecosystems.

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