| The human gastrointestinal tract hosts a complex community of microorganisms that grow as biofilms on the intestinal mucosa. These bacterial communities are not well characterized, although they are known to play an important role in human health. This project aimed to develop an in vitro model to study these adherent communities. Initially, simple communities were used to develop a biofilm model of bacterial interactions. Bacterial communities were then obtained from human colon biopsies and grown as anaerobic biofilms. These biofilms were similar in community structure to the biopsy communities from which they were formed, including all the major phyla present in the human intestine. These biofilm communities are proposed as a "representative microflora", an in vitro model of bacteria in the colon. This model can be used in future studies of commensal-pathogen interactions, and can be expanded to examine interactions between commensal bacteria and host cells. |
