ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016
Genome-wide screen identifies host colonization determinants in a bacterial gut symbiont.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
93 citing papers in PubMed, 163 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of Inoculation Routes for Honeybee Gut Microbiota Assembly Under Laboratory Conditions.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Molecular epidemiological analysis of Staphylococcus aureus from hospital and food in Huai'an, Jiangsu, China, based on whole genome sequencing.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Genome-resolved analysis of colonization factor repertoires reveals ecological stratification in cervid gut microbiomes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Multi-omics profiling reveals atypical sugar utilization and a key membrane composition regulator in Streptococcus pneumoniae.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Are you my mother? When host genetics and gut microbiota tell different phylogenetic stories in the Africanized honey bee hybrid (Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Glyphosate-Based Herbicides and Their Potential Impact on the Microbiota of Social Bees.Toxics · 2025Review
- Host specificity of gut microbiota associated with social bees: patterns and processes.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Microbes with higher metabolic independence are enriched in human gut microbiomes under stress.eLife · 2025Article
- The role of bacterial metabolism in human gut colonization.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2025Review
- Comparing the impact of landscape on the gut microbiome of Apis mellifera in Atlantic Forest and Caatinga Biomes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Air pollution modifies colonisation factors in beneficial symbiont Snodgrassella and disrupts the bumblebee gut microbiome.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Large genomic, functional, and phenotypical diversity ofFEMS microbes · 2025Article
- Characterisation of Aequorivita ciconiae sp. nov., isolated from oriental stork, Ciconia boyciana.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2024Article
- Type VI secretion systems promote intraspecific competition and host interactions in a bee gut symbiont.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Virulence-linked adhesin drives mutualist colonization of the bee gut via biofilm formation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Host specificity and cophylogeny in the "animal-gut bacteria-phage" tripartite system.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2024Article
- Glyphosate effects on growth and biofilm formation in bee gut symbionts and diverse associated bacteria.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Review
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Animal guts are often colonized by host-specialized bacterial species to the exclusion of other transient microorganisms, but the genetic basis of colonization ability is largely unknown. The bacterium Snodgrassella alvi is a dominant gut symbiont in honey bees, specialized in colonizing the hindgut epithelium. We developed methods for transposon-based mutagenesis in S. alvi and, using high-throughput DNA sequencing, screened genome-wide transposon insertion (Tn-seq) and transcriptome (RNA-seq) libraries to characterize both the essential genome and the genes facilitating host colonization. Comparison of Tn-seq results from laboratory cultures and from monoinoculated worker bees reveal that 519 of 2,226 protein-coding genes in S. alvi are essential in culture, whereas 399 are not essential but are beneficial for gut colonization. Genes facilitating colonization fall into three broad functional categories: extracellular interactions, metabolism, and stress responses. Extracellular components with strong fitness benefits in vivo include trimeric autotransporter adhesins, O antigens, and type IV pili (T4P). Experiments with T4P mutants establish that T4P in S. alvi likely function in attachment and biofilm formation, with knockouts experiencing a competitive disadvantage in vivo. Metabolic processes promoting colonization include essential amino acid biosynthesis and iron acquisition pathways, implying nutrient scarcity within the hindgut environment. Mechanisms to deal with various stressors, such as for the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks and protein quality control, are also critical in vivo. This genome-wide study identifies numerous genetic networks underlying colonization by a gut commensal in its native host environment, including some known from more targeted studies in other host-microbe symbioses.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.