# Novel Biochemical Pathways for the Metabolism of Carbohydrates in the Human gut Micriobiome

> **NIH NIH R01** · TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $311,224

## Abstract

The primary focus of this research proposal will be the identification, discovery, and
elucidation of novel biochemical pathways for the metabolism of complex carbohydrates in the human
gut microbiome. Currently, more than one thousand different bacterial species have been identified in
the human intestinal tract and the total number of genes contained within these bacteria exceeds the
number of human genes by more than two orders of magnitude. Moreover, it has been demonstrated
that the composition of the human gut microbiome and the associated metabolic diversity contained
within these bacteria contribute significantly to the maintenance of human health and physiology.
Unfortunately, a significant fraction of the enzymes and corresponding metabolic pathways contained
within the bacteria found in the human gut have an uncertain, unknown, or incorrect functional
annotation. This uncertainty suggests that a substantial fraction of the metabolic potential contained
within the human gut microbiome remains to be properly characterized. Our proposed experimental
approach for the discovery and elucidation of novel metabolic pathways for the metabolism of
complex carbohydrates will involve the concerted and synergistic utilization of bioinformatics,
computational biology, three-dimensional protein structure determination, metabolomics and
physical screening of focused compound libraries. The determination of the substrate and reaction
diversity contained within the newly discovered enzyme-catalyzed reactions will provide unique
insights into the molecular mechanisms for the evolution and development of novel enzymatic
activities and will provide potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9822978
- **Project number:** 5R01GM122825-03
- **Recipient organization:** TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Frank M. Raushel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $311,224
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-15 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9822978

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9822978, Novel Biochemical Pathways for the Metabolism of Carbohydrates in the Human gut Micriobiome (5R01GM122825-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9822978. Licensed CC0.

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