Project description
Novel probiotics help the world enjoy a fibre-rich diet
Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, an essential component in plant cell walls. Consuming lots of fruits and vegetables provides this key source of dietary fibre. It gives our gastrointestinal system a healthy workout because we do not have the enzyme that breaks it down, nor is the enzyme present in today’s probiotics. While cellulose is great for our overall wellbeing, working hard to digest it can cause discomfort. Funded by the European Research Council, the FibRestoration project will find unique fibre-degrading bacteria and integrate them into new probiotics, making the gut ‘workout’ more enjoyable. The novel probiotics will create a new niche in the global marketplace.
Objective
Dietary fiber is well-recognized as beneficial to gut microbiome and has repercussions on human health. Consequently, in recent years, alternative dietary lifestyles favoring the consumption of high amounts of dietary fibers have been proposed. In order to avoid
digestive discomfort associated with the increased intake of dietary fiber, we propose to develop probiotics that will target cellulose, the main component of dietary fiber. Indeed, cellulose-degrading bacteria are absent both in gut microbiomes of most human populations and in existing probiotics. During our proposed project, we will isolate unique fiber-degrading bacterium and restore it in the human microbiome via administration of probiotics. Thus, our products will comprise this bacterium either alone or in combination with other fiber-degrading strains and will augment the fiber-degrading potential of the human gut microbiome with concomitant implications in human health. Such probiotics will address the majority of global human populations and will constitute a niche in the global probiotics market, which is projected to further increase in the next decade.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
84105 Beer Sheva
Israel