TY - JOUR TI - Resilience of small intestinal beneficial bacteria to the toxicity of soybean oil fatty acids AU - Di Rienzi, Sara C AU - Jacobson, Juliet AU - Kennedy, Elizabeth A AU - Bell, Mary E AU - Shi, Qiaojuan AU - Waters, Jillian L AU - Lawrence, Peter AU - Brenna, J Thomas AU - Britton, Robert A AU - Walter, Jens AU - Ley, Ruth E A2 - Turnbaugh, Peter VL - 7 PY - 2018 DA - 2018/03/27 SP - e32581 C1 - eLife 2018;7:e32581 DO - 10.7554/eLife.32581 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32581 AB - Over the past century, soybean oil (SBO) consumption in the United States increased dramatically. The main SBO fatty acid, linoleic acid (18:2), inhibits in vitro the growth of lactobacilli, beneficial members of the small intestinal microbiota. Human-associated lactobacilli have declined in prevalence in Western microbiomes, but how dietary changes may have impacted their ecology is unclear. Here, we compared the in vitro and in vivo effects of 18:2 on Lactobacillus reuteri and L. johnsonii. Directed evolution in vitro in both species led to strong 18:2 resistance with mutations in genes for lipid biosynthesis, acid stress, and the cell membrane or wall. Small-intestinal Lactobacillus populations in mice were unaffected by chronic and acute 18:2 exposure, yet harbored both 18:2- sensitive and resistant strains. This work shows that extant small intestinal lactobacilli are protected from toxic dietary components via the gut environment as well as their own capacity to evolve resistance. KW - microbiome KW - lactobacillus KW - small intestine KW - linoleic acid KW - soybean oil KW - directed evolution JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -