Gut bacteria and a diet rich in the amino acid tryptophan can play a protective role against pathogenic E. coli, which can cause severe stomach upset, cramps, fever, intestinal bleeding and renal failure.
Gut bacteria and a diet rich in the amino acid tryptophan can play a protective role against pathogenic E. coli, which can cause severe stomach upset, cramps, fever, intestinal bleeding and renal failure, according to a study published March 13 inThe research reveals how dietary tryptophan -- an amino acid found mostly in animal products, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes -- can be broken down by gut bacteria into small molecules called metabolites.
Samantha Scott, a postdoctoral researcher in Chang's lab, is first author of the study,"Dopamine Receptor D2 Confers Colonization Resistance via Microbial Metabolites." Then, using mass spectrometry, they ran a screen to find the chemical identities of tryptophan metabolites in a gut sample, and identified three such metabolites that were significantly increased when given a tryptophan diet. Again, based on pathogen levels and inflammation, when these three metabolites alone were fed to the mice, they had the same protective effect as giving the mice a full tryptophan diet.
The experiments revealed a new role of dopamine receptor DRD2 in the gut that controls actin proteins and affects a previously unknown pathway for preventing a pathogenic bacteria's ability to colonize the gut.The study was supported by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, a President's Council of Cornell Women Affinito-Stewart Grant, the National Institutes of Health and a Cornell Institute of Host-Microbe Interactions and Disease Postdoctoral Fellowship.
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