Gut microbes take their vitamins.
The dense microbial ecosystem within the gut is connected through a complex web of metabolic interactions. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Degnan et al. (2014) establish the importance of different vitamin B12 transporters that help a Bacteroides species acquire vitamins from the environment to maintain a competitive edge.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Erica D
ED
Sonnenburg
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: jsonnenburg@stanford.edu.
Justin L
JL
Sonnenburg
D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D064307:Microbiota; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000378:metabolism*
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C044592:BtuB protein, E coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D014805:Vitamin B 12