N. Pudlo

Diet-driven differential response of Akkermansia muciniphila modulates pathogen susceptibility

This study shows that Akkermansia muciniphila increases susceptibility to a gut pathogen under fiber-deprived conditions but reduces pathogen load on a fiber-sufficient diet.

Iron acquisition by a commensal bacterium modifies host nutritional immunity during Salmonella infection

This study shows that the commensal bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron acquires iron using siderophores from Salmonella, evading host sequestration by lipocalin-2 and allowing Salmonella to bypass nutritional immunity.

Opposing diet, microbiome and metabolite mechanisms regulate inflammatory bowel disease in a genetically susceptible host

The paper shows that low dietary fiber promotes colitis in genetically susceptible mice by eroding mucus, while a fiber-free diet increases anti-inflammatory metabolites, highlighting microbial function over taxa in IBD regulation.

A genetically adaptable strategy for ribose scavenging in a human gut symbiont plays a diet-dependent role in colon colonization

The paper identifies a ribose utilization system in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron that is essential for gut colonization and shows its diet-dependent role through metabolic context.