The impact of motility on the localization of Lactobacillus agilis in the murine gastrointestinal tract.
BACKGROUND
While the overall composition of the mammalian gut microbiota has been intensively studied, the characteristics and ecologies of individual gut species are incompletely understood. Lactobacilli are considered beneficial commensals in the gastrointestinal mucosa and are relatively well-studied except for the uncommon species which exhibit motility. In this study, we evaluate the importance of motility on gut colonization by comparing motile and non-motile strains of Lactobacillus agilis in mice models.


RESULTS
A flagellated but non-motile L. agilis strain was constructed by mutation of the motB gene. Colonization of the wild type and the mutant strain was assessed in both antibiotic-treated female Balb/c mice and gnotobiotic mice. The results suggest that the motile strain is better able to persist and/or localize in the gut mucosa. Chemotaxis assays indicated that the motile L. agilis strain is attracted by mucin, which is a major component of the intestinal mucus layer in animal guts.


CONCLUSIONS
Motility and chemotactic ability likely confer advantages in gut colonization to L. agilis. These findings suggest that the motile lactobacilli have unique ecologies compared to non-motile commensals of the lactic acid bacteria.
['Kajikawa|Akinobu|A|0000-0002-2001-0551', 'Suzuki|Shunya|S|', 'Igimi|Shizunobu|S|']
D000818:Animals D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents D001426:Bacterial Proteins D002633:Chemotaxis D015169:Colony Count, Microbial D005243:Feces D005260:Female D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract D007413:Intestinal Mucosa D007778:Lactobacillus D008124:Locomotion D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C D009077:Mucins D009154:Mutation
Motility Lactobacillus Colonization Flagella