Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Host Gut Motility and Bacterial Competition Drive Instability in a Model Intestinal Microbiota

Travis J. Wiles, Matthew L. Jemielita, Ryan P. Baker, Brandon H. Schlomann, Savannah L. Logan, Julia Ganz, Ellie Melancon, Judith S. Eisen, Karen Guillemin, Raghuveer Parthasarathy
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/052985
Travis J. Wiles
1Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
6Co-first author
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Matthew L. Jemielita
2Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
4present address: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
6Co-first author
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ryan P. Baker
2Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brandon H. Schlomann
2Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Savannah L. Logan
2Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Julia Ganz
3Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
5present address: Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ellie Melancon
3Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Judith S. Eisen
3Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Karen Guillemin
1Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Raghuveer Parthasarathy
2Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: raghu@uoregon.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

The gut microbiota is a complex consortium of microorganisms with the ability to influence important aspects of host health and development. Harnessing this ‘microbial organ’ for biomedical applications requires clarifying the degree to which host and bacterial factors act alone or in combination to govern the stability of specific lineages. To address this we combined bacteriological manipulation and light sheet fluorescence microscopy to monitor the dynamics of a defined two-species microbiota within the vertebrate gut. We observed that the interplay between each population and the gut environment produced distinct spatiotemporal patterns. Consequently, one species dominates while the other experiences dramatic collapses that are well fit by a stochastic mathematical model. Modeling revealed that bacterial competition could only partially explain the observed phenomena, suggesting that a host factor is also important in shaping the community. We hypothesized the host determinant to be gut motility, and tested this mechanism by measuring colonization in hosts with enteric nervous system dysfunction due to mutation in the Hirschsprung disease locus ret. In mutant hosts we found reduced gut motility and, confirming our hypothesis, robust coexistence of both bacterial species. This study provides evidence that host-mediated spatial structuring and stochastic perturbation of communities along with bacterial competition drives population dynamics within the gut. In addition, this work highlights the capacity of the enteric nervous system to affect stability of gut microbiota constituents, demonstrating that the ‘gut-brain axis’ is bidirectional. Ultimately, these findings will help inform disease mitigation strategies focused on engineering the intestinal ecosystem.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted May 12, 2016.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Host Gut Motility and Bacterial Competition Drive Instability in a Model Intestinal Microbiota
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Host Gut Motility and Bacterial Competition Drive Instability in a Model Intestinal Microbiota
Travis J. Wiles, Matthew L. Jemielita, Ryan P. Baker, Brandon H. Schlomann, Savannah L. Logan, Julia Ganz, Ellie Melancon, Judith S. Eisen, Karen Guillemin, Raghuveer Parthasarathy
bioRxiv 052985; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/052985
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Host Gut Motility and Bacterial Competition Drive Instability in a Model Intestinal Microbiota
Travis J. Wiles, Matthew L. Jemielita, Ryan P. Baker, Brandon H. Schlomann, Savannah L. Logan, Julia Ganz, Ellie Melancon, Judith S. Eisen, Karen Guillemin, Raghuveer Parthasarathy
bioRxiv 052985; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/052985

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Microbiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (2518)
  • Biochemistry (4968)
  • Bioengineering (3473)
  • Bioinformatics (15185)
  • Biophysics (6886)
  • Cancer Biology (5380)
  • Cell Biology (7718)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (4521)
  • Ecology (7135)
  • Epidemiology (2059)
  • Evolutionary Biology (10211)
  • Genetics (7504)
  • Genomics (9774)
  • Immunology (4826)
  • Microbiology (13186)
  • Molecular Biology (5130)
  • Neuroscience (29370)
  • Paleontology (203)
  • Pathology (836)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (1461)
  • Physiology (2131)
  • Plant Biology (4738)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1008)
  • Synthetic Biology (1337)
  • Systems Biology (4003)
  • Zoology (768)