The evolution of cooperation within the gut microbiota
Open accessAbstract
Cooperative phenotypes are considered central to the functioning of microbial communities in many contexts, including communication via quorum sensing, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and pathogenesis. The human intestine houses a dense and diverse microbial community critical to health, yet we know little about cooperation within this important ecosystem. Here we test experimentally for evolved cooperation within the Bacteroidales, the dominant Gram-negative bacteria of the human intestine. We show that during growth on certain dietary polysaccharides, the model member Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron exhibits only limited cooperation. Although this organism digests these polysaccharides extracellularly, mutants lacking this ability are outcompeted. In contrast, we discovered a dedicated cross-feeding enzyme system in the prominent gut symbiont Bacteroides ovatus, which digests polysaccharide at a cost to itself but at a benefit to another species. Using in vitro systems and gnotobiotic mouse colonization models, we find that extracellular digestion of inulin increases the fitness of B. ovatus owing to reciprocal benefits when it feeds other gut species such as Bacteroides vulgatus. This is a rare example of naturally-evolved cooperation between microbial species. Our study reveals both the complexity and importance of cooperative phenotypes within the mammalian intestinal microbiota.
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Gut commensals act together to alter the gut environment.
“as gut commensals act together to alter the gut environment [124].”
From Role of the gut microbiota in nutrient competition and protection against intestinal pathogen colonization (2023) · cites this paper as [124]
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- Authors
- Rakoff-Nahoum, S., Foster, K. R., & Comstock, L. E.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Rakoff-Nahoum, Seth
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2016-04-25
- Volume
- 533
- Issue
- 7602
- Pages
- 255-259
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- PMC
- PMC4978124
- OpenAlex
- W2335934832
- Cited by
- 616
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 55 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 18
- FWCI
- 30.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI081843)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK34845, P30DK034854)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K12HD052896)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Keywords
- gut microbiota, microbial cooperation, cross-feeding, Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroidales, dietary polysaccharides, microbial community stability, interspecies interactions
- MeSH terms
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Bacteroides, Dietary Carbohydrates, Biological Evolution, Germ-Free Life, Glycoside Hydrolases, Humans, Intestines, Inulin, Male, Symbiosis, Mice, In Vitro Techniques
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