BacterioFiles 410 - Microbes Modify Muscle Measurement

A laboratory mouse

This episode: Mice that got a microbe transplant from humans with higher physical function performed better in certain ways than mice receiving microbes from humans with lower physical function!

Download Episode (6.7 MB, 9.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Stenotrophomonas maltophila

News item

Takeaways
Our bodies and our microbe communities are closely interconnected, with effects going both ways. Studies had previously shown that making changes to the microbe communities of mice could even affect the physical function and body composition of the mice.

This study aimed at addressing the same question in humans. There were certain consistent differences in microbial communities between elderly people with high ability to function physically, compared with low functioning people. These differences carried over in transplants of microbes from people to mice, and mice receiving microbes from high-functioning humans did better in tests of grip strength than mice receiving microbes from low-functioning people.

Journal Paper:
Fielding RA, Reeves AR, Jasuja R, Liu C, Barrett BB, Lustgarten MS. 2019. Muscle strength is increased in mice that are colonized with microbiota from high-functioning older adults. Exp Gerontol 127:110722.

Other interesting stories:

• Engineering better viruses for phage therapy
• Using staph bacteria to clean up metal-polluted environments (paper)

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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