B4118 - Intergenerational gut bacterial strain transfer - 15/09/2022
B number:
B4118
Principal applicant name:
Falk Hildebrand | Quadram Institute Bioscience (United Kingdom)
Co-applicants:
Title of project:
Intergenerational gut bacterial strain transfer
Proposal summary:
The gut microbiome is important for human health, supporting nutrition, pathogen defence and immune homeostasis, with more than 200 species inhabiting each human gut. The majority of the hundreds of microbial species (Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi typically) colonizing each human gut were only recently characterized from metagenomic assembled genomes and new taxa are still being discovered. Systematic studies investigating how these diverse microbial ecosystems are transferred between humans and adapt to their hosts are so far large lacking. Describing dispersal strategies and microbial adaptation to the human host will significantly contribute to understanding and manipulating the gut microbiome to re-set the host health.
Impact of research:
This research is fundamental science that is exploring so far unknown questions. Funded by an ERC starter grant, we will explore the wider research question how gut microbes disperse, what factors influence this process and in how far these microbes evolve during colonization. The likely impact are a much better understanding of bacterial colonization strategies and evolution during this process, enabling the development of new probiotics, gut microbial health and restoration projects and understanding the importance of the initial (mostly maternal) seeding of the gut microbiome.
Date proposal received:
Wednesday, 27 July, 2022
Date proposal approved:
Friday, 29 July, 2022
Keywords:
Molecular genetics and genomics, Behaviour - e.g. antisocial behaviour, risk behaviour, etc., Developmental disorders - autism, Diabetes, Eating disorders - anorexia, bulimia, Eczema, Gastrointestinal, Mental health, Obesity, DNA sequencing, Environment - enviromental exposure, pollution