A research team has found that microorganisms in the human gut utilize beta-elimination to break down plant natural products and thus make them available to humans.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 29, 2023
0
1
A team of scientists led by Dr. Ulrich Kleinekathöfer, professor of Theoretical Physics at Constructor University in Bremen, has now discovered how B12 is absorbed by certain intestinal bacteria. Published in the journal ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 2, 2023
1
251
We are pursuing the dream of eternal life. We fast to stay healthy. And each year, we spend billions of dollars on treatment to make sure we stay alive. But some people turn 100 years old all by themselves. Why is that?
Cell & Microbiology
May 31, 2023
0
82
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a bacterium that infects people after they eat raw or undercooked shellfish creates syringe-like structures to inject its toxins into intestinal cells. The ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 20, 2023
0
70
In Brazil, a group of researchers supported by FAPESP created mutant forms of Salmonella to understand the mechanisms that favor colonization of the intestinal tract of chickens by these pathogenic bacteria and find better ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 11, 2023
0
15
As an effective method of preventing a wide range of bacterial diseases, vaccination plays a key role in aquaculture disease control, contributing to its environmental, social, and economic sustainability. In particular, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 13, 2023
0
8
A microbe that breaks down a key digestive enzyme in the large intestine of humans and mice has been identified by RIKEN biologists. This finding, now published in Nature, could eventually lead to the development of probiotics ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 23, 2023
0
31
The immune system is under the constant challenge of specifically detecting dangerous microbes to remove them. Dr. Andrea Puhar and her team at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) at Umeå University, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 11, 2022
0
35
RUDN veterinarians studied how the intestinal microbiota in cats changes during dysbacteriosis. The patterns obtained will help to make a more accurate diagnosis and select an adequate treatment. The results are published ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 18, 2022
0
26
Part of a gene is better than none when identifying a species of microbe. But for Rice University computer scientists, part was not nearly enough in their pursuit of a program to identify all the species in a microbiome.
Biotechnology
Jun 30, 2022
0
96
The gut flora consists of the microorganisms that normally live in the digestive tract of animals. The gut flora includes much of the human flora. The term "gut flora" is interchangeable with intestinal microflora and intestinal microbiota.
The average human body, consisting of about 1013 (10,000,000,000,000 or about ten trillion) cells, has about ten times that number of microorganisms in the intestines. The metabolic activity performed by these bacteria is equal to that of a virtual organ causing some to describe the gut bacteria as a "forgotten" organ.
Bacteria make up most of the flora in the colon and 60% of the dry mass of feces. Somewhere between 300 and 1000 different species live in the gut, with most estimates at about 500. However, it is probable that 99% of the bacteria come from about 30 or 40 species. Fungi and protozoa also make up a part of the gut flora, but little is known about their activities.
Research suggests that the relationship between gut flora and humans is not merely commensal (a non-harmful coexistence), but rather is a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship. Though people can survive with no gut flora, the microorganisms perform a host of useful functions, such as fermenting unused energy substrates, training the immune system, preventing growth of harmful species, regulating the development of the gut, producing vitamins for the host (such as biotin and vitamin K), and producing hormones to direct the host to store fats. However, in certain conditions, some species are thought to be capable of causing disease by producing infection or increasing cancer risk for the host.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
