A group of international researchers led by the University of Parma (Italy) in which the CSIC has participated has discovered the way of anchoring the bacterium Bifidobacterium bifidum in our digestive system. The anchoring system is based on protein appendages by which the bacteria literally anchor themselves to the enterocytes, the epithelial cells of the intestine. The research has been published this week in the journal PNAS .
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The benefits of bifidobacteria
As you can imagine, this particular bacteria is one of the "good" ones. The group of bifidobacteria is widely recognized for its role as a probiotic. I'm sure you'll hear the name of the yogurt ads and even more if I tell you that the bacteria of the bifidobacteria group were known as Lactobacillus bifidus .
The group of bifidobacteria has about 30 different species and is the main bacterial genus that colonizes the intestine of newborns, constituting an active defense against other pathogenic bacteria. Among the favorable functions in our organism are to maintain the balance or homeostasis of the bacterial flora and, therefore, are part of the food industry. They also keep at bay the pathogens that try to infect the intestine (especially in newborns), participate in the immune response and participate in the formation of vitamins.
An anchorage mechanism based on pili
Many bacteria can present on their surface a series of appendages that perform different functions. The most known are the flagella, being the longer appendages used for displacement or to generate currents that attract nutrients. Another type of appendages are fimbrias or pili . Both structures are shorter and thinner than flagella and generally the term fimbria is used for when its function is adhesion and the term pili is used for structures that are used in bacterial conjugation, a method of exchange of genetic information between bacteria .
What they have discovered is that they are precisely the pili structures that these bacteria use to stay stuck in our intestines and begin colonization. Moreover, the team of researchers has discovered up to 3 different types of pili , each with a specific function and different expression patterns depending on environmental conditions. Although this bacterium is well known for various favorable functions in our flora, very little was known about its anchoring way to colonize us.
The study also highlights that this is one of the few studies that shows that pili are used by some bacteria for functions other than what is known in bacterial conjugation. In this case, the pili also acquire the function of colonization factors, which could favor the search and development of other organisms and probiotic products.