ArticleNature microbiology2018
Microbial nitrogen limitation in the mammalian large intestine.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
90 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 167 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review of Beef Protein Effects on Gut Microbiota: Implications for Health.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Pooled it
- The protease code of the bacterial gut microbiota: ecological regulation, barrier disruption, and rewiring host defense and signaling.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Revisiting gut microbiota-driven ammonia metabolism: from disease burden to physiological adaptation.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Gut microbial signatures in poultry under low-protein diets and lysine restriction: implications for precision nutrition.Veterinary and animal science · 2026Review
- Eggerthella lenta: metabolism, pathogenesis and therapeutic implications.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Review
- Antibiotic susceptibility ofmSphere · 2026Article
- Glutathione impacts Hfq condensation in nitrogen-starvedJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Metagenomic insights into the global wild boar faecal microbiome reveal novel taxa and carbohydrate degraders distinguishing wild and domesticated Sus.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Experimental Evolution of Yeast Reveals Trade-offs Between Early and Late Stationary Phase.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Interactions Between Plant Proteins and Gut Microbiota as Determinants of Intestinal Health.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Microbially derived essential amino acids compensate for dietary deficiencies in an ecologically relevant mammalian host.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Increased dietary protein stimulates amino acid catabolism via the gut microbiota and secondary bile acid production.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Gut Dysbiosis Driven byGenes · 2025Review
- Stability and Variability of the Human Fecal Microbiome over 2 Years in the Multiethnic Cohort Study: A Metagenomic Analysis.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- Revisiting nitrogen assimilation strategies in the mammalian gut: lessons from Enterobacteriaceae as pathobiont models and a challenge to the limitation paradigm.Archives of microbiology · 2025Review
- Dietary Nitrogen and Its Role in the Gut Microbiome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- How consistent is 'the dynamic gut'? Complex physiological responses to dietary fiber and protein across three rodent species.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Spatial entropy drives the maintenance and dissemination of transferable plasmids.Molecular systems biology · 2025Article
- Arctic Greening Drives Changes in the Diet and Gut Microbiome of a Large Herbivore With Consequences for Body Mass.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Resource limitation is a fundamental factor governing the composition and function of ecological communities. However, the role of resource supply in structuring the intestinal microbiome has not been established and represents a challenge for mammals that rely on microbial symbionts for digestion: too little supply might starve the microbiome while too much might starve the host. We present evidence that microbiota occupy a habitat that is limited in total nitrogen supply within the large intestines of 30 mammal species. Lowering dietary protein levels in mice reduced their faecal concentrations of bacteria. A gradient of stoichiometry along the length of the gut was consistent with the hypothesis that intestinal nitrogen limitation results from host absorption of dietary nutrients. Nitrogen availability is also likely to be shaped by host-microbe interactions: levels of host-secreted nitrogen were altered in germ-free mice and when bacterial loads were reduced via experimental antibiotic treatment. Single-cell spectrometry revealed that members of the phylum Bacteroidetes consumed nitrogen in the large intestine more readily than other commensal taxa did. Our findings support a model where nitrogen limitation arises from preferential host use of dietary nutrients. We speculate that this resource limitation could enable hosts to regulate microbial communities in the large intestine. Commensal microbiota may have adapted to nitrogen-limited settings, suggesting one reason why excess dietary protein has been associated with degraded gut-microbial ecosystems.
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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.