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BUNCH OF BACTERIA HAVING

‘WILD SEX’ IN YOUR GUT

A team of researchers To survive, the “They break those down says Degnan. the former had ‘jumped’ to
from the University of Illi- so we can get energy from the latter after five to nine
nois at Urbana-Champaign microbes in them.” “The horizontal gene ex- days.
and University of California our digestive change among microbes
Riverside has now learned To colonize the human gut is likely used for anything “It’s as if two humans had
just how far this bacterial tract are having and help us break down that increases their ability sex, and now they both
bump-and-grind goes, ‘wild sex’ with carbohydrates, however, to survive, including sharing have red hair,” says Deg-
finding exchanges that these microbes must com- [genes for the transport of] nan.
go beyond what we knew each other on a pete for limited resources vitamin B12.”
previously. regular basis, all in the large intestine. Such When two gut microbes Interestingly, the authors
resources include vitamin
note that a secondary
Bacteria, of course, don’t in the name of B12 and other related were placed on a dish in the round of gene transfer,
have genitals, but techni- swapping secrets compounds, which help fuel lab, researchers noticed between Bacteroidetes of
cally ‘sex’ in biology refers the bacteria’s metabolism the bacterium that couldn’t the same species, occurred
to any process that ex- on how to survive and synthesis of proteins. synthesize B12 transport slightly faster than the first
changes genetic material. deadly doses of Most microbes in the gut systems connected up with round, which was between
two different species.
the bacterium that could.
By forming a ‘temporary antibiotics. don’t have the ability to Once the sex pilus bridged
union’ with another bacte- synthesize these crucial the gap between the two, The findings suggest there
rium in our gut, a microbe teria are actually sharing compounds on their own, the ‘receiving’ bacterium may be a slight ‘species
can therefore transfer when they do this. which means they have could unpack its precious barrier’ when it comes to
its genes to another – it to soak up what they can cargo. bacterial sex. Although,
doesn’t even have to be The study was conducted from their environment. that barrier is nothing like
the same species. among a phylum of gut After the experiment, what we see with mam-
microbes, called Bacteroi- For this to be effective, it researchers examined the mals, where a species can
All the microbe has to do detes, which comprise up pays to have genes for an genome of the receiving only reproduce with anoth-
is stick out a tube, called a to 80 percent of the human efficient vitamin B12 trans- bacterium, which was still er of its kind.
pilus, and attach itself to microbiome and are im- port system at the ready. alive, and found it had in-
another cell, shooting off portant digesters. corporated an extra band Bacteria, it seems, aren’t
a transferable package In both petri dishes and of DNA from the donor. nearly so picky about their
of DNA called a mobile “The big, long molecules in living mouse models, partners, and our stom-
genetic element when it’s from sweet potatoes, researchers have now Among living mice, some- achs are very grateful for
ready. beans, whole grains, and identified B12 transporters thing similar appears to their promiscuity.
vegetables would pass that are shared via bacte- happen. When researchers
The discovery of bacteri- through our bodies entirely rial sex. administered two forms of The study was published in
al sex was made over 70 without these bacteria,” Bacteroidetes to a mouse Cell Reports.
years ago, when scientists explains microbiologist “We’re excited about this – one that possessed the
realized this horizontal Patrick Degnan from the study because it shows genes for transferring B12,
gene transfer was how mi- University of California that this process isn’t only and another that didn’t –
crobes were sharing resist- Riverside. for antibiotic resistance,” they found the genes of
ance genes for certain an-
tibiotics, thereby spreading
antibiotic resistance.

More recently, it’s become
clear that bacterial sex
doesn’t just occur when
microbes are under attack.
It happens all the time, and
it’s probably part of what
keeps our microbiome fit
and healthy.

New research has now
identified what genes bac-