Sequencing of Kombucha-associated microbes
Kombucha Tea (KT), a fermented tea with roots in traditional Chinese medicine, has surged in worldwide popularity due to its purported health benefits. KT contains a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacterial species, many of which are considered human probiotics. The molecular basis of the health benefits of KT has yet to be thoroughly explored in any animal model. We establish C. elegans as a model to query the molecular interactions between Kombucha-associated microbes (KTM) and the host. To identify Kombucha-associated microbes, we isolated 1) the microbes from the fermenting Kombucha culture, 2) the pool of microbes fed to the C. elegans animals on NGM plates, and 3) the microbes that colonize the gut of the nematodes feeding on KTMs. We then performed 16S and 18S rDNA sequencing of the Kombucha Tea microbiome and the KTMs seeded to NGM plates, as well as whole genome sequencing of the individual microbial isolates. We find that the gut microbiome of nematodes consuming a KTM-exclusive diet closely mirrors the microbial community found in the fermenting culture. Moreover, the whole genome sequencing of individual microbes revealed that the core microbial species in our Kombucha culture are Komagataeibacter rhaeticus, Acetobacter tropicalis, and Zygosaccharomyces bailli.