The role of oxygen tolerance in early colonization of the microbiota prevalent member Prevotella copri.

• Applicant: Dr. Youssef El Mouali Benomar
• Subject Area: Medical Microbiology and Mycology, Hygiene, Molecular Infection Biology ; Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 499968726

Prevotella species are prevalent members of human microbiomes. A prominent role has been attributed to the gut bacterium specie Prevotella copri that is ubiquitous in agrarian non-westernized societies. Remarkably, the presence of P. copri in westernized societies, as are European countries, have been associated with inflammatory diseases such rheumatoid arthritis, periodontitis or intestinal dysbiosis and inflammation. To date, how mechanistically Prevotella impacts human health remains obscure and factors that affect human colonization by Prevotella remain elusive. Of note, oxygen tolerance seems to play a key role in early colonization of naïve hosts by commensals and during host infection by pathogenic bacteria. Interestingly, the Strowig lab has recently observed that P. copri strains display a weaker tolerance to oxygen than Bacteroides thethaiotaomicron, the prevalent gut bacterium in European countries, and that within P. copri clades differences among clades exist being clade A more tolerant to oxygen than clade D and E, the latter also less prevalent in European countries. The aim of this proposal is to characterize genetic elements within P. copri strains from different clades that play a role in oxygen tolerance and determine whether differences in oxygen sensitivity play a role in the context of early host colonization or alternatively, in prevalence of P. copri upon infection with pathogenic bacteria during infection-derived inflammation.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position