Analysis of the gut microbiota in the old order Amish and its relation to the metabolic syndrome.

Obesity has been linked to the human gut microbiota; however, the contribution of gut bacterial species to the obese phenotype remains controversial because of conflicting results from studies in different populations. To explore the possible dysbiosis of gut microbiota in obesity and its metabolic complications, we studied men and women over a range of body mass indices from the Old Order Amish sect, a culturally homogeneous Caucasian population of Central European ancestry. We characterized the gut microbiota in 310 subjects by deep pyrosequencing of bar-coded PCR amplicons from the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Three communities of interacting bacteria were identified in the gut microbiota, analogous to previously identified gut enterotypes. Neither BMI nor any metabolic syndrome trait was associated with a particular gut community. Network analysis identified twenty-two bacterial species and four OTUs that were either positively or inversely correlated with metabolic syndrome traits, suggesting that certain members of the gut microbiota may play a role in these metabolic derangements.

Retrotransposon overdose and genome integrity.

Yeast and mammalian genomes are replete with nearly identical copies of long dispersed repeats in the form of retrotransposons. Mechanisms clearly exist to maintain genome structure in the face of potential rearrangement between the dispersed repeats, but the nature of this machinery is poorly understood. Here we describe a series of distinct "retrotransposon overdose" (RO) lineages in which the number of Ty1 elements in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome has been increased by as much as 10 fold. Although these RO strains are remarkably normal in growth rate, they demonstrate an intrinsic supersensitivity to DNA-damaging agents. We describe the identification of mutants in the DNA replication pathway that enhance this RO-specific DNA damage supersensitivity by promoting ectopic recombination between Ty1 elements. Abrogation of normal DNA replication leads to rampant genome instability primarily in the form of chromosomal aberrations and confirms the central role of DNA replication accuracy in the stabilization of repetitive DNA.

Glycan microarray analysis of Candida glabrata adhesin ligand specificity.

The Candida glabrata genome encodes at least 23 members of the EPA (epithelial adhesin) family responsible for mediating adherence to host cells. To better understand the mechanism by which the Epa proteins contribute to pathogenesis, we have used glycan microarray analysis to characterize their carbohydrate-binding specificities. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains surface-expressing the N-terminal ligand-binding domain of the Epa proteins, we found that the three Epa family members functionally identified as adhesins in Candida glabrata (Epa1, Epa6 and Epa7) bind to ligands containing a terminal galactose residue. However, the specificity of the three proteins for glycans within this class varies, with Epa6 having a broader specificity range than Epa1 or Epa7. This result is intriguing given the close homology between Epa6 and Epa7, which are 92% identical at the amino acid level. We have mapped a five-amino-acid region within the N-terminal ligand-binding domain that accounts for the difference in specificity of Epa6 and Epa7 and show that these residues contribute to adherence to both epithelial and endothelial cell lines in vitro.

Assimilation of NAD(+) precursors in Candida glabrata.

The yeast pathogen Candida glabrata is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) auxotroph and its growth depends on the environmental supply of vitamin precursors of NAD(+). C. glabrata salvage pathways defined in this article allow NAD(+) to be synthesized from three compounds - nicotinic acid (NA), nicotinamide (NAM) and nicotinamide riboside (NR). NA is salvaged through a functional Preiss-Handler pathway. NAM is first converted to NA by nicotinamidase and then salvaged by the Preiss-Handler pathway. Salvage of NR in C. glabrata occurs via two routes. The first, in which NR is phosphorylated by the NR kinase Nrk1, is independent of the Preiss-Handler pathway. The second is a novel pathway in which NR is degraded by the nucleosidases Pnp1 and Urh1, with a minor role for Meu1, and ultimately converted to NAD(+) via the nicotinamidase Pnc1 and the Preiss-Handler pathway. Using C. glabrata mutants whose growth depends exclusively on the external NA or NR supply, we also show that C. glabrata utilizes NR and to a lesser extent NA as NAD(+) sources during disseminated infection.

A yeast by any other name: Candida glabrata and its interaction with the host.

Well-characterized traits important to Candida albicans virulence, such as hyphal formation or secreted proteinase activity, play no known role in Candida glabrata virulence. Likewise, some C. glabrata characteristics, such as chromatin-based regulation of the large telomeric family of lectins encoded by the EPA (epithelial adhesin) genes, have no precise parallels in C. albicans. However, similarities between the two species, for example in population structure, in the large numbers of (putative) adhesins that they encode, and in phenotypic plasticity conferred by phenotypic switching, suggest that they share general strategies in adaptation to an opportunistic lifestyle.