LAPSE:2018.0219
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.0219
Byproduct Cross Feeding and Community Stability in an In Silico Biofilm Model of the Gut Microbiome
Michael A. Henson, Poonam Phalak
July 31, 2018
The gut microbiome is a highly complex microbial community that strongly impacts human health and disease. The two dominant phyla in healthy humans are Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, with minor phyla such as Proteobacteria having elevated abundances in various disease states. While the gut microbiome has been widely studied, relatively little is known about the role of interspecies interactions in promoting microbiome stability and function. We developed a biofilm metabolic model of a very simple gut microbiome community consisting of a representative bacteroidete (Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron), firmicute (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii) and proteobacterium (Escherichia coli) to investigate the putative role of metabolic byproduct cross feeding between species on community stability, robustness and flexibility. The model predicted coexistence of the three species only if four essential cross-feeding relationships were present. We found that cross feeding allowed coexistence to be robustly maintained for large variations in biofilm thickness and nutrient levels. However, the model predicted that community composition and short chain fatty acid levels could be strongly affected only over small ranges of byproduct uptake rates, indicating a possible lack of flexibility in our cross-feeding mechanism. Our model predictions provide new insights into the impact of byproduct cross feeding and yield experimentally testable hypotheses about gut microbiome community stability.
Keywords
biofilm consortia, biofilm modeling, cross feeding, gut microbiome, metabolic modeling, microbial communities
Subject
Suggested Citation
Henson MA, Phalak P. Byproduct Cross Feeding and Community Stability in an In Silico Biofilm Model of the Gut Microbiome. (2018). LAPSE:2018.0219
Author Affiliations
Henson MA: Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Applied Life Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Phalak P: Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Applied Life Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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Journal Name
Processes
Volume
5
Issue
1
Article Number
E13
Year
2017
Publication Date
2017-03-18
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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PII: pr5010013, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2018.0219
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doi:10.3390/pr5010013
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Jul 31, 2018
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CC BY 4.0
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