title: Metabolome progression during early gut microbial colonization of gnotobiotic mice.
abstract: The microbiome has been implicated directly in host health, especially host metabolic processes and development of immune responses. These are particularly important in infants where the gut first begins being colonized, and such processes may be modeled in mice. In this investigation we follow longitudinally the urine metabolome of ex-germ-free mice, which are colonized with two bacterial species, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bifidobacterium longum. High-throughput mass spectrometry profiling of urine samples revealed dynamic changes in the metabolome makeup, associated with the gut bacterial colonization, enabled by our adaptation of non-linear time-series analysis to urine metabolomics data. Results demonstrate both gradual and punctuated changes in metabolite production and that early colonization events profoundly impact the nature of small molecules circulating in the host. The identified small molecules are implicated in amino acid and carbohydrate metabolic processes, and offer insights into the dynamic changes occurring during the colonization process, using high-throughput longitudinal methodology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marcobal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yusufaly
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higginbottom
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Justin L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sonnenburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: George I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Mias
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D051379:Mice; D013997:Time Factors