论文题目：Autoinducer-2-mediatedcommunicationnetworkwithinhumangutmicrobiota
论文作者：Qingying Fan#, Hengxi Sun#, Xueyuan Lin#, Wenguang Yang, Xihui Shen, Lei Zhang*
论文摘要：
Quorum sensing (QS) is a chemical communication process that connects microbial members in various microbial systems. Bacterial communication networks mediated by QS play important roles in the regulation of intestinal microecological balance as well as nutrition and metabolism of the host. However, how human gut microbes utilize QS signals to communicate with one another remains largely unknown. In this study, we first examined the prevalence and abundance of genes encoding QS signal synthases in 3,329 species representatives clustered from 289,232 prokaryotic genomes in the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome collection. Our results show autoinducer-2 (AI-2) is the most prevalent QS signal within the human gut microbiota, with the synthase gene luxS being found in 2,039 species mainly distributed within Firmicutes, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidota, and Proteobacteria. Furthermore, 299 species carry genes encoding one or more types of AI-2 receptors (LuxP-, LsrB-, dCache_1-, and GAPES1-type). The dCache_1- and GAPES1-type receptors can function as methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins, histidine kinases, c-di-GMP synthases and/or c-di-GMP-specific phosphodiesterases, serine phosphatases, and serine/threonine kinases, suggesting the diversity of AI-2-mediated interspecies communication modes among human gut microbiota. Metatranscriptomic analysis showed that a number of AI-2 synthase- and receptor-encoding genes can be expressed in the human gut in healthy and/or unhealthy states. The communication network analysis suggests that AI-2-mediated interactions widely occur among members of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, Campylobacterota, and Spirochaetota. Overall, this study deepens understanding of QS-mediated communication network among human gut microbiota, and provides guidance for engineering gut microbiota and constructing new synthetic microbial consortia based on complex microbial interactions.
肠道菌群是人体内最复杂、最庞大的微生态系统，在这个复杂的微生物群落中微生物采用各种策略相互作用。作为细菌交流的主要方式，QS介导的细菌通讯网络在调节肠道微生态平衡及营养代谢等方面发挥重要作用。由于绝大多数QS信号仅能介导种内交流，作为唯一被公认能介导广泛种间交流的QS信号，AI-2在肠道微生物互作网络中必然发挥重要作用。然而，长期以来局限于AI-2受体未知，人们对肠道微生物中AI-2介导的种间交流知之甚少。本研究从来自UHGG数据集的目前最全的人类肠道微生物基因组序列资源中下载289232个原核基因组，并基于95%的ANI阈值确定4744个物种，进一步从中筛选出3329个具有高质量基因组的原核物种代表。通过分析这些物种中QS信号合成酶基因分布，在2353个物种中鉴定出7种QS信号合成酶编码基因，其中2039个物种具有AI-2合成酶编码基因，远高于其他QS信号合成酶基因的分布。进一步我们发现299个物种携带编码一种或多种AI-2受体的基因。其中dCache_1和GAPES1型受体可作为甲基化趋化受体、组氨酸激酶、c-di-GMP合成与水解酶、丝氨酸磷酸酶和丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶发挥作用，反映人类肠道微生物菌群中AI-2介导的种间交流模式的多样性。交流网络分析显示AI-2介导的相互作用广泛发生在厚壁菌门、变形菌门、放线菌门、弯曲菌门和螺旋体门成员之间。本研究呈现了迄今最全面的AI-2信号介导人类肠道微生物种群间相互作用的图景，为基于复杂微生物相互作用构建合成肠道菌群提供新的理论依据。
原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wraf204