Study of human microecology by mass spectrometry of microbial markers

Abstract

This review shows that mass spectrometry of microbial markers (MSMM) permits simultaneous in situ determination of more than one hundred microbial fatty acids in clinical, biotechnological or environmental samples, without precultivation and use of biochemical test materials and primers. Unprecedented information about the quantity of anaerobes and uncultivated aerobes, as well as actinobacteria, yeasts, viruses and microscopic fungi in one sample has provided a full understanding of microbial etiology in clinical conditions of patients. The study of intestine dysbiosis has confirmed the hypothesis about the nosological specificity of changes in the intestinal microbiota. It has been proven that infectious processes are polymicrobial. Measurements have shown that anaerobes dominate in number and functional activities in inflammation. The division of microbes into pathogenic and non- pathogenic is artificial. All microbes living in a human body simultaneously stay in both forms. Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria appear as agents of septic conditions and endocarditis. МSММ data confirm that anaerobes of Clostridium, Eubacterium, Propionibacterium, as well as actinobacteria of Streptomyces, Nocardia, Rhodococcus are mixed infection dominants. The data testify translocation of these microbes in inflammation loci from the intestine. Quantitative comparison of concentration of markers in the inflamed organ and blood proves reproduction of microorganisms in this locus. The current hypothesis is confirmed that the goal of translocation is not only infection, but also a biofilm formation similar to intestines, which stimulate local immunity, protection from local pathogens and restoration of the damaged tissues. Quantification using GC-MS revealed that the influence of antibiotics on the normal intestine's microbiota are not as dramatic as believed. Growth-promoting effects are the most important benefits of probiotic applications. The probiotic essence is not the microbial biomass itself, but growth factors, alarm molecules, and other factors of intestinal microbes. There are new possibilities in improving probiotics by using microbial 'consortia', modelling real gut microbiota.