New paper in Nature Communications: Interactions of a novel taurine-eating mouse gut bacterium with commensals and pathogens

Taurine is not only a semi-essential nutrient of animals and humans, but also a substrate for specialized gut bacteria that respire it to hydrogen sulfide, a smelly gas that can have positive and negative impact on host health. An international team of researchers led by Huimin and Alex from DOME has discovered a novel taurine-respiring bacterium in the mouse gut, Taurinivorans muris, that is highly specialized on taurine and contributes to the protection of the microbiota against intestinal pathogens such as Klebsiella and Salmonella. The study provides new insights into gut microbiome members with a sulfur-based energy metabolism in the gut and their links with other commensal and pathogenic gut bacteria and the bile acid metabolism of the host.