Extracellular vesicles of the Gram-positive gut symbiont Bifidobacterium longum induce immune-modulatory, anti-inflammatory effects

Noa Mandelbaum, Lihan Zhang, Shaqed Carasso, Tamar Ziv, Sapir Lifshiz-Simon, Irina Davidovich, Ishai Luz, Elliot Berinstein, Tal Gefen, Tomer Cooks, Yeshayahu Talmon, Emily P. Balskus, Naama Geva-Zatorsky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The gut microbiota is now well known to affect the host’s immune system. One way of bacterial communication with host cells is via the secretion of vesicles, small membrane structures containing various cargo. Research on vesicles secreted by Gram-positive gut bacteria, their mechanisms of interaction with the host and their immune-modulatory effects are still relatively scarce. Here we characterized the size, protein content, and immune-modulatory effects of extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by a newly sequenced Gram-positive human gut symbiont strain - Bifidobacterium longum AO44. We found that B. longum EVs exert anti-inflammatory effects, inducing IL-10 secretion from both splenocytes and dendritic cells (DC)-CD4+ T cells co-cultures. Furthermore, the EVs protein content showed enrichment in ABC transporters, quorum sensing proteins, and extracellular solute-binding proteins, which were previously shown to have a prominent function in the anti-inflammatory effect of other strains of B. longum. This study underlines the importance of bacterial vesicles in facilitating the gut bacterial immune-modulatory effects on the host and sheds light on bacterial vesicles as future therapeutics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number30
Journalnpj Biofilms and Microbiomes
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microbiology
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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