From gut to brain: bacterial amyloids and Parkinson’s

New publication

Sano researchers Alicja W. Wojciechowska, Jakub W. Wojciechowski and Tomasz Kościółek are among the authors of a new study, “Aggregation in gut: on the link between neurodegeneration and bacterial functional amyloids,” published in npj Biofilms and Microbiomes (Nature Portfolio), with Kinga Zielińska, Johannes Söding and Małgorzata Kotulska. Using a bioinformatics approach, the team identifies “functional amyloids” — protein aggregates that gut bacteria produce for useful purposes, such as stabilising biofilms — and examines how they might affect human health through the gut–brain axis (the two-way link between the gut and the brain). They report a greater relative abundance of these bacterial amyloids in people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in two of three datasets, pointing to a tentative link between gut bacteria and neurodegeneration that still needs experimental validation.

“Aggregation in gut: on the link between neurodegeneration and bacterial functional amyloids.”
Autors: Alicja W. Wojciechowska, Jakub W. Wojciechowski, Kinga Zielinska, Johannes Soeding, Tomasz Kosciolek, Malgorzata Kotulska