title: Worms, bacteria, and micronutrients: an elegant model of our diet.
abstract: Micronutrients are required in small proportions in a diet to carry out key metabolic roles for biomass and energy production. Humans receive micronutrients either directly from their diet or from gut microbiota that metabolize other nutrients. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and its bacterial diet provide a relatively simple and genetically tractable model to study both direct and microbe-mediated effects of micronutrients. Recently, this model has been used to gain insight into the relationship between micronutrients, physiology, and metabolism. In particular, two B-type vitamins, vitamin B12 and folate, have been studied in detail. Here we review how C. elegans and its bacterial diet provide a powerful interspecies systems biology model that facilitates the precise delineation of micronutrient effects and the mechanisms involved.
authors.affiliation: Program in Systems Biology, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lutfu Safak
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Program in Systems Biology, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA. Electronic address: marian.walhout@umassmed.edu.
authors.forename: Albertha J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Walhout
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D004032:Diet; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000378:metabolism*; D023421:Models, Animal
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients
keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans; folate; gut microbiota; metabolism; micronutrients; vitamin B