A new study has discovered that taurine has a role in triggering the gut’s microbiota to identify and destroy invading bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacteria commonly found in the gut and responsible for a variety of infections.
It is already known that gut microbiota can protect against infection, but it is not well understood how they accomplish this. A better of understanding of how they confer protection will aid the development of replacements for current antibiotic drugs, which currently harm gut microbiota and whose effectiveness is waning.
Taurine is a complementary (non-essential amino acid, involved in helping break down fats and is present in bile acid. Most taurine is produced by the body but some is also required in the diet. Certain seafoods, seaweed, poultry and beef are good sources of taurine.
The scientists believed that the taurine helped prevent against bacterial colonisation by producing hydrogen sulphide, but during their research they also discovered that a single infection was sufficient to prepare the gut microbiota to resist a second infection. The liver and gallbladder which produce and store bile acids, can develop long-term protection against infection.
While investigating further, the researchers discovered a particular type of bacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, which protected the gut against colonisation by infectious bacteria and which was activated by taurine. Taurine fed to mice in drinking water helped to shield against infection by boosting the function of the protective bacteria, but those fed bismuth subsalicylate (a common over-the-counter diarrhoea treatment), the infection protection diminished, because bismuth suppresses hydrogen sulphide production in the gut.
Source: News-Medical.Net
