A host-microbiota interactome reveals extensive transkingdom connectivity. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38509360/)

These scientists wanted to understand how the tiny organisms that live in and on our bodies can affect our health. They found that some of these organisms, like bacteria, can interact with the proteins in our bodies in different ways. To study this, they created a new technology called BASEHIT that allowed them to look at these interactions on a very large scale.

The scientists looked at over 1.7 million possible interactions between 519 different types of bacteria that live in or on humans and over 3,000 proteins in our bodies. They discovered a big network of connections between the bacteria and our proteins that had never been seen before. They found that some bacteria had similar ways of interacting with our proteins, while others were unique.

By studying these interactions, the scientists learned that different bacteria can affect our bodies in different ways. Some bacteria might help the body in certain ways, while others could cause problems. They also found that the bacteria that interacted differently with our proteins also had different effects on our immune system.

Overall, this study showed that the relationships between the tiny organisms in our bodies and our proteins are very important and could play a big role in our health and diseases.

Sonnert ND., Rosen CE., Ghazi AR., Franzosa EA., Duncan-Lowey B., Gonzalez-Hernandez JA., Huck JD., Yang Y., Dai Y., Rice TA., Nguyen MT., Song D., Cao Y., Martin AL., Bielecka AA., Fischer S., Guan C., Oh J., Huttenhower C., Ring AM., Palm NW. A host-microbiota interactome reveals extensive transkingdom connectivity. Nature. 2024 Apr;628(8006):171-179. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07162-0. Epub 2024 Mar 20.