Disentangling the functional contribution of food microbes on the human gut microbiome

The human gut microbiota is considered one of the main actors in the foundation of human health, thus there is a very active research avenue on the investigation of all the possible factors involved in the modulation of the composition of the microbial communities residing in the human intestine, including foods. So far, very little is known about the impact of microbes that are carried by foods on the human gut microbiota in terms of shaping its composition but also on their potential influence of the functionality of the intestinal microbiome, and consequently on the human health. Thus, a new perspective of research about foods and their future translational applications will be to consider these not only as a vehicle of nutrients but also of microbes that might impact on the wellbeing of the consumers.

The microbiota composition that is carried by different categories of foods will be investigated by applying metagenomics and culturomics approaches. A very detailed cataloguing of the microbial communities of foods will be performed in all of the various steps of the food chain production taking into seasonality and geographical variables. The human gut microbiota of consumers that are daily taking the different foods will be monitored in order to evaluate the eventual sharing of microbes (at strain level) and their persistence in the human gut. The functional impact of food microbes on the human gut microbiota will be assayed using in vitro models allowing the reconstruction of the human gut microbiota under in vitro settings.

The detailed analysis of the composition of the microbiota characterizing the different foods together with that of the gut consumers will provide a very precise catalogue of microbes that are shared between foods and the human gut. These microbes will represent potential important food modulators of the human gut microbiota whose biology and potential functional impact on the host will be investigated in great detail. In vitro trials will allow to delineate the interactome of these microbes with the various members of the human gut microbiota as well as with the human host. Thus, an important outcome of this project will be to identify novel food microbes exploiting health promoting functions on the host. In addition, in the framework of this study, it will be mapped the metabolic cross-talks of food microbes with the different nutrients carried by food and thus their roles in the synthesis of bioactive molecules with potential health effects on the consumer.