Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome
ABSTRACTHuman milk guides the structure and function of microbial commensal communities that colonize the nursing infant gut. Indigestible molecules dissolved in human milk establish a microbiome often dominated by bifidobacteria capable of utilizing these substrates. Interestingly, urea accounts fo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Gut Microbes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2023.2192546 |
| _version_ | 1797236657912545280 |
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| author | Xiaomeng You Asha Rani Ezgi Özcan Yang Lyu David A. Sela |
| author_facet | Xiaomeng You Asha Rani Ezgi Özcan Yang Lyu David A. Sela |
| author_sort | Xiaomeng You |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTHuman milk guides the structure and function of microbial commensal communities that colonize the nursing infant gut. Indigestible molecules dissolved in human milk establish a microbiome often dominated by bifidobacteria capable of utilizing these substrates. Interestingly, urea accounts for ~15% of total human milk nitrogen, representing a potential reservoir for microbiota that may be salvaged for critical metabolic operations during lactation and neonatal development. Accordingly, B. infantis strains are competent for urea nitrogen utilization, constituting a previously hypothetical phenotype in commensal bacteria hosted by humans. Urease gene expression, downstream nitrogen metabolic pathways, and enzymatic activity are induced during urea utilization to yield elevated ammonia concentrations. Moreover, biosynthetic networks relevant to infant nutrition and development are transcriptionally responsive to urea utilization including branched chain and other essential amino acids. Importantly, isotopically labeled urea nitrogen is broadly distributed throughout the expressed B. infantis proteome. This incisively demonstrates that the previously inaccessible urea nitrogen is incorporated into microbial products available for infant host utilization. In aggregate, B. infantis possesses the requisite phenotypic foundation to participate in human milk urea nitrogen recycling within its infant host and thus may be a key contributor to nitrogen homeostasis early in life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T14:20:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7afafe119c704111b95ef9dea3d5f717 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1949-0976 1949-0984 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:07:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Gut Microbes |
| spelling | doaj.art-7afafe119c704111b95ef9dea3d5f7172024-03-28T22:38:20ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGut Microbes1949-09761949-09842023-12-0115110.1080/19490976.2023.2192546Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiomeXiaomeng You0Asha Rani1Ezgi Özcan2Yang Lyu3David A. Sela4Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USADepartment of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USADepartment of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USADepartment of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USADepartment of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USAABSTRACTHuman milk guides the structure and function of microbial commensal communities that colonize the nursing infant gut. Indigestible molecules dissolved in human milk establish a microbiome often dominated by bifidobacteria capable of utilizing these substrates. Interestingly, urea accounts for ~15% of total human milk nitrogen, representing a potential reservoir for microbiota that may be salvaged for critical metabolic operations during lactation and neonatal development. Accordingly, B. infantis strains are competent for urea nitrogen utilization, constituting a previously hypothetical phenotype in commensal bacteria hosted by humans. Urease gene expression, downstream nitrogen metabolic pathways, and enzymatic activity are induced during urea utilization to yield elevated ammonia concentrations. Moreover, biosynthetic networks relevant to infant nutrition and development are transcriptionally responsive to urea utilization including branched chain and other essential amino acids. Importantly, isotopically labeled urea nitrogen is broadly distributed throughout the expressed B. infantis proteome. This incisively demonstrates that the previously inaccessible urea nitrogen is incorporated into microbial products available for infant host utilization. In aggregate, B. infantis possesses the requisite phenotypic foundation to participate in human milk urea nitrogen recycling within its infant host and thus may be a key contributor to nitrogen homeostasis early in life.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2023.2192546Microbiotahuman milkureabifidobacterianitrogen metabolism |
| spellingShingle | Xiaomeng You Asha Rani Ezgi Özcan Yang Lyu David A. Sela Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome Gut Microbes Microbiota human milk urea bifidobacteria nitrogen metabolism |
| title | Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| title_full | Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| title_fullStr | Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| title_short | Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| title_sort | bifidobacterium longum subsp infantis utilizes human milk urea to recycle nitrogen within the infant gut microbiome |
| topic | Microbiota human milk urea bifidobacteria nitrogen metabolism |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2023.2192546 |
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