Lawrence Goodridge
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Title: Reprogramming the gut: Bacteriophages and their roles in modifying the gastrointestinal microflora
Biography
Biography: Lawrence Goodridge
Abstract
While it has long been understood that microorganisms in the human gut play an important role in digestive health, more recent research indicates that gut bacteria may relate to wider aspects of health, including obesity and metabolic health. The role that bacteriophages play in modulating the gut microflora and potentially the systemic health of animals (including humans) is increasing being recongized. The animal gastrointestinal tract (GIT) contains 1015 bacteriophages, which are collectively referred to as the phageome. Individual phageomes vary depending on age and health, thus providing a useful biomarker of animal health as well as suggesting potential interventions that could be targeted at the gut microbiota. Additionally, recent research has shed light on the how the phageome actively modulates the microflora as well as the survival, and thus efficacy of probiotic bacteria within the animal GIT. For example, phages that are unique to individual bacterial isolates have been shown to act as a predator, infecting and killing similar, competing bacterial strains, providing a competitive advantage to the bacteria harbouring the phage, by decreasing competition for available nutirents in the GIT. In this way, phages are expected to have a significant role in driving the biodiversity of the complex ecosystem of the animal GIT. Further exploration is neccesary in order to harness the enormous potential of the phageome to reprogram the microflora of the GIT, either to prevent diseases from occurring or in response to an active disease.