The individual in the context of the whole: Gut microbiota-host interactions
Naama Geva-Zatorsky1, Neerupma Bhardwaj, Noa Mandelbaum, Nadav Ben-Assa, Lillie Beck, Dana Kadosh, Shaqed Carasso, Haitham Hajjo, Natalie Constantinescu, Yossi Ben-Dor, Naama Eshal, Tal Gefen
Department of Cell Biology and Cancer Science, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC), Haifa, Israel
1Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Global Scholar, MaRS Centre, West Tower 661 University Ave., Suite 505 Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
The gut microbiota has been shown to have substantial effects on host physiology. Studies mostly focus on changes in the microbiota composition in health and disease, and on the effects of either individual or specific microbial consortia on the host, as a whole. In my lab, we are studying the interactions of gut microbes with the mammalian host, in a dynamic manner. We do so by applying unique methods that allow us to focus on microbes of interest, in an individualized manner. Our previous work has demonstrated the immune-modulatory capabilities of gut microbes from across phyla1 and has associated microbes to several disease models2,3. Building upon these studies and our recent methods developments (Geva-Zatorsky et., al 4, and unpublished), we are currently characterizing the mechanisms underlying gut microbiota-host interactions in real-time, to elucidate their causal effects the molecules at play.
1 Geva-Zatorsky, N. et al. Mining the Human Gut Microbiota for Immunomodulatory Organisms. Cell 168, 928-943 e911, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.01.022 (2017).
2 Tan, T. G. et al. Identifying species of symbiont bacteria from the human gut that, alone, can induce intestinal Th17 cells in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113, E8141-E8150, doi:10.1073/pnas.1617460113 (2016).
3 Sefik, E. et al. MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY. Individual intestinal symbionts induce a distinct population of RORgamma(+) regulatory T cells. Science 349, 993-997, doi:10.1126/science.aaa9420 (2015).
4 Geva-Zatorsky, N. et al. In vivo imaging and tracking of host-microbiota interactions via metabolic labeling of gut anaerobic bacteria. Nat Med 21, 1091-1100, doi:10.1038/nm.3929 (2015).
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