The 1013–1014 microorganisms present in the human gut (collectively known as the human
gut microbiota) dedicate substantial percentages of their genomes to the degradation and …

The Bacteroidetes phylum is renowned for its ability to degrade a wide range of complex
carbohydrates, a trait that has enabled its dominance in many diverse environments. The …

The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract harbours a complex and dynamic population of
microorganisms, the gut microbiota, which exert a marked influence on the host during …

Natural selection shapes bacterial evolution in all environments. However, the extent to
which commensal bacteria diversify and adapt within the human gut remains unclear. Here …

Unlike proteins, glycan chains are not directly encoded by DNA, but by the specificity of the
enzymes that assemble them. Theoretical calculations have proposed an astronomical …

The metabolism of carbohydrate polymers drives microbial diversity in the human gut
microbiota. It is unclear, however, whether bacterial consortia or single organisms are …

The complex carbohydrates of terrestrial and marine biomass represent a rich nutrient
source for free-living and mutualistic microbes alike. The enzymatic saccharification of these …

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) promotes health by regulating the composition and function of gut
microbiota, but the molecular requirements for such homeostatic IgA function remain …

The major nutrients available to human colonic Bacteroides species are glycans,
exemplified by pectins, a network of covalently linked plant cell wall polysaccharides …

Development of microbiota-directed foods (MDFs) that selectively increase the abundance
of beneficial human gut microbes, and their expressed functions, requires knowledge of both …