# W-Health: Tungsten is an Essential Metal for a Healthy Gut Microbiome

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2021 · $175,370

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 The NIH Human Microbiome Project (HMP) revolutionized our perspective on human-
microbe interactions and provided a tremendous impetus for research in order to obtain a much
deeper understanding of how microbes impact human health. The gut microorganisms of the HMP
Reference Genomes and the Human Gastrointestinal Bacteria Culture Collection contain 961
species representing 142 genera. Yet, relatively little is known about these microorganisms.
Herein we will test the hypothesis that tungsten (W), a metal almost never considered in biological
systems, is essential for the health of the human gut microbiome. Our bioinformatics analyses
reveal that a large number of these gut microbes contain genes encoding diverse members of the
W-containing oxidoreductase (WOR) family of enzymes. Only a very few WOR enzymes have
been previously characterized, mainly from exotic thermophilic microbes. The overall goal of the
proposed research is to show that other members of the WOR family have essential functions in
the gut microbiome. In preliminary studies, we have shown that some gut microbes take up trace
amounts of W and their W-containing WORs remove reactive and potentially toxic aldehydes
found in the gut, which are generated from cooked foods and microbiome metabolism. Other W-
containing WORs are proposed to catalyze other as yet unknown reactions. In the proposed
research we will purify ten novel phylogenetically distinct WORs by W-monitored (using ICP-MS)
anaerobic chromatography. Their catalytic activities and physiological substrates will be
determined by an enzyme-induced metabolomics approach (using LC-MS). In addition, we
propose that some of these WORs are electron bifurcating enzymes that simultaneously couple
exergonic and endergonic reactions, a recently discovered mechanism of energy conservation in
biological systems. Kinetic, spectroscopic (using EPR) and structural (using cryoEM) analyses of
this subset of W-enzymes will be used to investigate the nature of the bifurcation reactions. Using
genome-based metabolic reconstructions, the physiological functions of the various WORs will
be ascertained and we will determine the effects of W on the metabolism of the gut microbes,
including on their resistance to gut- and cooking-related aldehydes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10386032
- **Project number:** 3R01GM136885-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael W. Adams
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $175,370
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-20 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10386032

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10386032, W-Health: Tungsten is an Essential Metal for a Healthy Gut Microbiome (3R01GM136885-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10386032. Licensed CC0.

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