Research reveals that good gut bacteria help reduce the risk of heart disease-ANI

Ohio [USA], July 12 (ANI): One of the great bacteria found in the human intestine, scientists have discovered a previously unrecognized advantage. Beneficial bacteria can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Bacterial activity in the intestine reduces the production of chemicals associated with the development of blocked arteries. After being manufactured in the intestine, the chemical enters the bloodstream and travels to the liver where it is converted to its most harmful form.
Researchers at Ohio State University suspect that they could trace the behavior of bacteria down to the protein family and explain other ways in which beneficial bacteria can contribute to human health.
In essence, these organisms compete with bad bacteria for access to the same nutrients in the gut. When good bacteria win, they prevent health problems due to how the body metabolizes food.
Although more research is underway, scientists have discovered that this microorganism, Eubacterium limosum, may be used for therapeutic purposes in the future. Previous studies have already shown that bacteria are “good” to soothe intestinal inflammation.
“In the last decade, it has become clear that bacteria in the human gut affect our health in many ways. The organisms we investigated were able to prevent the problematic compounds from deteriorating. It has an impact on health,” said Joseph Krzycki, a professor of microbiology in Ohio. State and senior author of the study.
“It’s too early to say if this bacterium has a therapeutic effect, but that’s what we’re aiming for,” Krzycki added.
The study will be published online and will be published in a future edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The chemical associated with the clogged arteries that are characteristic of atherosclerosis is called trimethylamine, or TMA. It is produced by some intestinal microbes, bacteria that are commonly regarded as useless to humans, during metabolism and interact with certain nutrients in food. Among these nutrients, L-carnitine, a compound found in meat and fish, is also used as a dietary supplement to improve post-exercise recovery.
Krzycki and his colleagues E. We found that limosum interacts with L-carnitine differently in the intestine and that interaction eliminates the role of L-carnitine in the production of TMA (other nutrients also participate in intestinal TMA production). ).
Researchers attribute the beneficial behavior of bacteria to a protein called MtcB. This process, called demethylation, removes one methyl group, a carbon atom surrounded by three hydrogen atoms, and alters the structure or function of a compound.
“Bacteria do this for their own benefit, but it has the downstream effect of reducing the toxicity of TMA,” Krzycki said. “So far, the only known intestinal microbial reaction with L-carnitine has involved converting it to its bad form. Bacteria known to be beneficial remove the methyl group, We have discovered that the resulting product can be routed to another route without doing anything else in the process.
In these interactions, L-carnitine functions as a growth substrate-a compound that is consumed by living organisms so that it can grow and is also a target for enzymatic activity. In this study, the researchers provided E. limosum cultures with various potential substrates, including L-carnitine. Only when L-carnitine was provided did the microorganism specifically synthesize the MtcB protein to get rid of the methyl groups of L-carnitine-essentially, MtcB is part of a natural way for bacteria to consume nutrients. ..
When Krzycki discovers that one of the intestinal bacteria has this one important health benefit, he learns how intestinal bacteria affect the health outcomes associated with human metabolism. It suggests that there is still much to be done.
“MtcB is part of a family of proteins, with thousands of representatives using different compounds and potentially altering the nutrients that bacteria consume in the intestine,” he said. “These proteins may behave very similar in chemistry, but biologically, the use of different compounds can result in significant changes.” (Ani)