ArticleNature2017
Complex pectin metabolism by gut bacteria reveals novel catalytic functions.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 276 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
276 citing papers in PubMed, 619 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Decoding dietary pectin: from structural complexity and microbial CAZyme-PUL networks to cross-feeding and host-beneficial metabolites.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Chondroitin sulfate modulates gut microbiota to improve bone metabolism and reduce locomotion problems in yellow-feathered broilers.Animal nutrition (Zhongguo xu mu shou yi xue hui) · 2026Article
- Seeking soil microbial degraders and enzymatic genes for efficient biomass recycling.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Determination of Gene-Level Fitness Contributions Across the Mucin-Utilization Network of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Synergistic degradation of fucoidans in the ocean.Nature · 2026Article
- Age-dependent dynamics of cecal caproic acid in free-range Lueyang black-boned chickens and its effects on primary myoblasts.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Extracellular metabolite production byApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Transcriptome study ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of AsymmetricJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Interspecies interactions drive bacterial proteome reorganization and emergent metabolism.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Reverse prediction of carbohydrate esterase polysaccharide targets.Biotechnology for biofuels and bioproducts · 2026Article
- Distribution of microbial carrageenan foraging pathways reveals a widespread latent trait within the ruminant intestinal microbiome.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The butyrate-producing Gram-positive human gut bacterium, Hoskinsella mucinilytica, selectively targets host mucin N-acetylhexosamines.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- The Structure-Decoding-Conversion-Effect Paradigm of Natural Polysaccharides for Gut Microbiota Remodeling in Ulcerative Colitis.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Degradation of mucinbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Glycan Sequencing, A Brief Primer.Glycoscience & therapy · 2026Article
- A Hyperthermostable Archaeal GH78 Rhamnosidase Efficiently Hydrolyzes Flavonoid Glycosides for Juice Debittering.Journal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2026Article
- Genetic mechanisms for estuarine carbohydrate degradation and linked transcriptional activity.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
216 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
25 authors at 10 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The metabolism of carbohydrate polymers drives microbial diversity in the human gut microbiota. It is unclear, however, whether bacterial consortia or single organisms are required to depolymerize highly complex glycans. Here we show that the gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron uses the most structurally complex glycan known: the plant pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan-II, cleaving all but 1 of its 21 distinct glycosidic linkages. The deconstruction of rhamnogalacturonan-II side chains and backbone are coordinated to overcome steric constraints, and the degradation involves previously undiscovered enzyme families and catalytic activities. The degradation system informs revision of the current structural model of rhamnogalacturonan-II and highlights how individual gut bacteria orchestrate manifold enzymes to metabolize the most challenging glycan in the human diet.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.