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Getting a grip on things: how do communities of bacterial symbionts become established in our intestine?

Nature Immunology volume 5, pages 569–573 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The gut contains our largest collection of resident microorganisms. One obvious question is how microbial communities establish and maintain themselves within a perfused intestine. The answers, which may come in part from observations made by environmental engineers and glycobiologists, have important implications for immunologists who wish to understand how indigenous microbial communities are accommodated. Here we propose that the mucus gel layer overlying the intestinal epithelium is a key contributor to the structural and functional stability of this microbiota and its tolerance by the host.

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Figure 1: Engineered bioreactors provide clues as to how microbial communities are maintained.
Figure 2: View of the distal small intestine of a mouse by scanning electron microscopy.
Figure 3: Proposed mechanism for microbial retention in the gut.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (DK30292).

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Author notes

  1. Justin L Sonnenburg and Largus T Angenent: J.S. and L.T.A. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology and Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Justin L Sonnenburg & Jeffrey I Gordon

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering Science Program, Washington University, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Largus T Angenent

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  1. Justin L Sonnenburg
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Correspondence to Jeffrey I Gordon.

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Sonnenburg, J., Angenent, L. & Gordon, J. Getting a grip on things: how do communities of bacterial symbionts become established in our intestine?. Nat Immunol 5, 569–573 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1079

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