# Carbohydrate Public Good Interactions in Healthy and Dysbiotic Bacteroidales Communities

> **NIH NIH K08** · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2021 · $164,376

## Abstract

This proposal describes a 5-year career mentored research project with the goal of
defining the role of cooperative and selfish utilization of dietary- and host- derived carbohydrates
by the Bacteroidales in the ecological interactions and composition of the gut microbiota.
Successful completion of the research and training plan will enable the investigator to gain the
skills necessary to secure independent funding and transition into an independent physician-
scientist with the long term goals of exploring the human gut microbiota through multidisciplinary
approaches. The research aims and career development plan will work towards mastery and
independence in bacterial genetics approaches to gut anaerobic bacteria and proficiency in both
eco-evolutionary and bioinformatic/computational analysis of the microbiota. The primary co-
mentors are Dr. Laurie Comstock – a world expert in the bacterial genetics of the Bacteroidales
and Dr. Matthew Waldor – a leader in next-generational sequencing approaches to bacteria,
both at the Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. The collaborative and
mentorship team is comprised of a local, multi-institutional group of experts in infectious
diseases, theoretical ecology and modeling, microbial ecology, evolutionary biology, mucosal
immunology and inflammatory bowel disease.
 The research proposal seeks to explore ecological interactions among the
Bacteroidales, the predominant Gram negative bacteria of the human gut, which have important
impacts on host health and disease. Our preliminary findings suggest that the Bacteroidales use
diverse strategies to survive on dietary polysaccharides based on variation in the digestion of
these carbohydrates and liberation and utilization of these digested products as public goods.
We hypothesize that carbohydrate public good based interactions centered on the Bacteroidales
are fundamental determinants of the composition and dynamics of individuals and microbiota
communities. In this proposal we will use high throughput in vitro phenotypic analysis to assign
ecotypes to members of co-resident healthy and dysbiotic Bacteroidales natural communities,
use bacterial genetics to identify the genes involved in key carbohydrate-based interactions, and
determine the impact of selfish and public goods-based carbohydrate interactions on the
composition and dynamics of the gut microbiota in vivo. Collectively these proposed studies
seek to provide critical information on the ecological determinants of naturally human
Bacteroidales communities and will be important for our understanding of the microbiota and
attempts to shape this community in health and disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10101608
- **Project number:** 5K08AI130392-05
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Seth Rakoff-Nahoum
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $164,376
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-02-02 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10101608

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10101608, Carbohydrate Public Good Interactions in Healthy and Dysbiotic Bacteroidales Communities (5K08AI130392-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10101608. Licensed CC0.

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