Congratulations to School of Medicine Year 5 student Jia-He Hung for winning the Outstanding Award for publication in the Journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Professor Shir-Ly Huang ‘s laboratory has discovered the molecular mechanisms by which beneficial symbiotic bacteria grow in different nutritional environments, and this article is published in the journal “Applied and Environmental Microbiology”.
Diet plays a pivotal role in shaping the composition, function, and diversity of the human microbiome. Nitrate, a key prebiotic in our diet, serves as a nitrogen source and electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration in microbes, regulating gut microbiota metabolism. This process provides gastrointestinal protection and improves insulin resistance.
The anaerobic commensal bacterium Veillonella, found in the human oral cavity and gut, is a crucial nitrate-reducing species. It promotes the conversion of nitrate into nitric oxide, which regulates cardiovascular homeostasis. Veillonella utilize lactate as main carbon source; however, they reside in the human body site where lactate level is limited for their growth, raising questions about how Veillonella adapts and thrives in such nutrient-limited settings.
A study by Professor Shir-Ly Huang’s lab, published in”Applied and Environmental Microbiology”, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), reveals that nitrate promotes the growth, viability, and beneficial metabolite production of Veillonella dispar in lactate-deficient environments by facilitating catabolism of specific amino acids. The researchers discovered that nitrate stimulates V. dispar to metabolize glutamate into beneficial short-chain fatty acids and convert aspartate into tryptophan, a precursor of anti-inflammatory compounds. These findings provide a novel strategy for developing next-generation probiotic products.
The research was co-authored by Jia-He Hung, a five-grade medical student, and Shi-Min Zhang, a PhD student from Program in Molecular Medicine (MMP) of College of Life Sciences, under the instruction of Professor Shir-Ly Huang from the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology. This is Hung’s second SCI publication. Congratulations!
◎Journal information : Jia-He Hung, Shi-Min Zhang, Shir-Ly Huang(2024). Nitrate promotes the growth and the productions of short-chain fatty acids and tryptophan from commensal anaerobe Veillonella dispar in the lactate-deficient environment by facilitating the catabolism of glutamate and aspartate. Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
2024 The Foundation of Taiwan Medical Development Awards for Outstanding Writings
Source: College of Medicine (Chinese Page)
