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/lp/annual-reviews/the-critical-roles-of-polysaccharides-in-gut-microbial-ecology-and-O8SCLD5036
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Copyright
- Copyright 2017 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
- ISSN
- 0066-4227
- eISSN
- 1545-3251
- DOI
- 10.1146/annurev-micro-102215-095316
- pmid
- 28657886
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
The human intestine harbors a dense microbial ecosystem (microbiota) that is different between individuals, dynamic over time, and critical for aspects of health and disease. Dietary polysaccharides directly shape the microbiota because of a gap in human digestive physiology, which is equipped to assimilate only proteins, lipids, simple sugars, and starch, leaving nonstarch polysaccharides as major nutrients reaching the microbiota. A mutualistic role of gut microbes is to digest dietary complex carbohydrates, liberating host-absorbable energy via fermentation products. Emerging data indicate that polysaccharides play extensive roles in hostgut microbiota symbiosis beyond dietary polysaccharide digestion, including microbial interactions with endogenous host glycans and the importance of microbial polysaccharides. In this review, we consider multiple mechanisms through which polysaccharides mediate aspects of host-microbe symbiosis in the gut, including some affecting health. As host and microbial metabolic pathways are intimately connected with diet, we highlight the potential to manipulate this system for health.
Journal
Annual Review of Microbiology – Annual Reviews
Published: Sep 8, 2017