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Microbial collaborations and conflicts: unraveling interactions in the gut ecosystem - PubMed

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Microbial collaborations and conflicts: unraveling interactions in the gut ecosystem

Shuang Wang et al. Gut Microbes. 2024 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

The human gut microbiota constitutes a vast and complex community of microorganisms. The myriad of microorganisms present in the intestinal tract exhibits highly intricate interactions, which play a crucial role in maintaining the stability and balance of the gut microbial ecosystem. These interactions, in turn, influence the overall health of the host. The mammalian gut microbes have evolved a wide range of mechanisms to suppress or even eliminate their competitors for nutrients and space. Simultaneously, extensive cooperative interactions exist among different microbes to optimize resource utilization and enhance their own fitness. This review will focus on the competitive mechanisms among members of the gut microorganisms and discuss key modes of actions, including bacterial secretion systems, bacteriocins, membrane vesicles (MVs) etc. Additionally, we will summarize the current knowledge of the often-overlooked positive interactions within the gut microbiota, and showcase representative machineries. This information will serve as a reference for better understanding the complex interactions occurring within the mammalian gut environment. Understanding the interaction dynamics of competition and cooperation within the gut microbiota is crucial to unraveling the ecology of the mammalian gut microbial communities. Targeted interventions aimed at modulating these interactions may offer potential therapeutic strategies for disease conditions.

Keywords: Microbiota; gut ecosystem; mechanisms; negative interaction; positive interaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.

Scheme of gut microbial interaction in gut. Bacterial interactions, whether competitive or cooperative, involve a significant investment of energy and stringent regulatory control. Competitive interactions can take the form of exploitation, or interference, while positive interaction mostly related to nutrients cross-feeding and adaptation to environmental stress. Secretion of toxin by contact-dependent or independent manner will confers the bacterial colonization, facilitate niche occupancy, and also eliminate the pathogenic bacteria. Positive interactions among bacteria primarily revolve around optimizing resource utilization and adapting to environmental stresses such as antibiotics or toxins, which will enhance bacterial fitness to complex gut environment.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Main competition machineries in gut microbes. Bacterial competition in the gut can be mediated by contact-dependent secretion systems such as T6SS or T7SS, which lyse neighboring cells by injecting toxic effectors into host cells or the environment. Additionally, bacteria can harm distant cells by releasing bacteriocins directly into the environment or by carrying them via MVs. Moreover, exploiting nutrients in the environment through the direct acquisition or release of enzymes is also an important mode of competition among intestinal bacteria.

Figure 3.
Figure 3.

Types of positive interactions within gut microbiome. positive interactions are common and important in a population. One species can utilize metabolites produced by another species (a), while different bacteria species can also cross-feed each other by exchanging metabolites(b). (c) bacteria sister cells could provide cross-protection by HGT, biofilm formation and cross feeding response to environmental stressors such as antibiotics or nutrient deficiencies.

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The work was supported by the Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LH2023H005]; Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Scientific Research Developmental Fund [LBH-Q20149]; Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Scientific Research Developmental Fund [LHB-Q21153]; National Natural Science Foundation of China fund [NSFC31700126]; National Natural Science Foundation of China fund [NSFC82020108022].

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