A MODEL OF HOST-MICROBIAL INTERACTIONS IN AN OPEN MAMMALIAN ECOSYSTEM

The maintenance and significance of the complex populations of microbe s present in the mammalian intestine are poorly understood. Comparison of conventionally housed and germ-free NMRI mice revealed that produc tion of fucosylated glycoconjugates and an alpha 1,2-fucosyltransferas e messenger RNA in the small-intestinal epithelium requires the normal microflora. Colonization of germ-free mice with Bacteroides thetaiota dmicron, a component of this flora, restored the fucosylation program, whereas an isogenic strain carrying a transposon insertion that disru pts its ability to use L-fucose as a carbon source did not. Simplified models such as this should aid the study of open microbial ecosystems .