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Gut microbial communities constitute a compartment of crucial importance in regulation of homeostasis of multiple host physiological functions as well as in resistance towards environmental pollutants. Microbiota produce a large spectrum of metabolites, peptides and proteins that interact with host organism and regulate multiple physiological functions such as energy metabolism and immunity. Over the last decades, our understanding of the composition and functions of the gut microbiota has increased exponentially, mainly due to new ‘omic’ technologies that allow us the analysis of the genetic and metabolic profile of this microbial community. Dysbiosis, or changes in the microbiome (i.e., community structure), has been associated with various disease states, and some studies have linked physiological outcomes to microbial-mediated mechanisms. Interestingly, many chemical contaminants were shown to deregulate gut bacteria and cause dysbiosis that contributes to adverse outcomes caused by chemicals. Our research focuses on the understanding how various types of chemicals impact the gastrointestinal microbiome (composition and diversity) and most importantly their function in controlled studies with model organisms. The impact of chemicals on microbial functional capabilities are studied using advanced bioinformatic approaches that predict the functions encoded in a microbiome genome that were used to investigate the relative changes in the microbial metabolites. Such approaches are valuable tools to link chemical exposure and the effect on the e.g. immunity via the effect of the microbial bioactive metabolites.
This is part of the Principal Investigator Seminar Series.
