Harnessing genomic plasticity and functional potential to assess fitness of human gut bacteria strains

Our gut microbes have evolved alongside us, adapting to changes in diet, lifestyle, and environment over time.

Consequently, they continuously generate new lineages, some of which exhibit greater fitness in specific host conditions and quickly dominate the population.

Recent studies demonstrate that even within the same microbial species, certain strains may display varying levels of fitness.

Despite this adaptability, understanding their differential fitness and functional changes in differing host conditions remains a challenge for microbiota-based therapies.My objective is to elucidate the factors contributing to gut microbial adaptation and fitness across host conditions.

I will investigate the mechanisms underlying adaptation in two scenarios characterized by gradual selection pressure: a) the transition of children´s microbiota upon introduction to solid foods, and b) changes in the gut microbiota of healthy adults over time compared to those at risk of cardiometabolic conditions .

Further my aim is to establish connections between genes or gene clusters and microbial genomes to bridge taxonomic and functional disparities.

Finally I will develop a comprehensive atlas of gut microbial strains to identify variations in fitness of gut bacterial strains globally.

Collectively, these findings will contribute to advancing our understanding of microbial adaptation and can be leveraged for precision therapy involving microbiota-based therapeutic interventions for human health.