A synthetic microbial consortium protects against obesity by regulating vitamin B6 metabolism
Xiuzhao Chen,
Mengxue Gao,
Lina Wang,
Guifen Qiang,
Yili Wu,
He Huang,
Guangbo Kang
Affiliations
Xiuzhao Chen
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Mengxue Gao
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Lina Wang
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Guifen Qiang
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Target and Screening Research, Beijing, China
Yili Wu
Oujiang Laboratory, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
He Huang
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Guangbo Kang
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
ABSTRACTConstructing synthetic microbial consortia is a challenging task but holds enormous potential for various applications. Our previous droplet-based microfluidic approach allowed for the isolation of bacteria that could utilize metabolites from an engineered bacterium BsS-RS06551 with anti-obesity potential, facilitating the construction of synthetic microbial consortia. Here, we identified a strain of Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum JJ3 that interacted with BsS-RS06551, and in vitro coculture showed that BsS-RS06551 was likely to interact with JJ3 through five dipeptides. Pathway analysis revealed that the vitamin B6 metabolism pathway was enriched in the coculture of BsS-RS06551 and JJ3 compared with the individual culture of BsS-RS06551. Additionally, we confirmed that the administration of JJ3 significantly alleviated obesity and related disorders in mice fed a high-fat diet. Notably, continuous ingestion of the synthetic microbial consortium comprising BsS-RS06551 and JJ3 not only exhibited a more pronounced impact on alleviating obesity compared to the individual administration of BsS-RS06551 or JJ3 but also enriched the population of Bifidobacterium longum and perturbed the vitamin B6 metabolism pathway in the gut. Synthetic microbial consortia represent a promising frontier for synthetic biology, and our strategy provides guidance for constructing and applying such consortia.
