{"id":35018,"date":"2021-01-04T17:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T16:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=35018"},"modified":"2024-03-22T11:34:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:34:34","slug":"kefir-teamwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/kefir-teamwork\/","title":{"rendered":"In kefir, microbial teamwork makes the dream work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To make kefir, it takes a team. A team of microbes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the message of new research from EMBL and Cambridge University\u2019s Patil group and collaborators, published in Nature Microbiology<\/em><\/a> today. Members of the group study kefir, one of the world\u2019s oldest fermented food products and increasingly considered to be a \u2018superfood\u2019 with many purported health benefits, including improved digestion and lower blood pressure and blood glucose levels. After studying 15 kefir samples, the researchers discovered to their surprise that the dominant species of Lactobacillus<\/em> bacteria found in kefir grains cannot survive on their own in milk, the other key ingredient in kefir. However, when the species work together \u2013 feeding on each other\u2019s metabolites in the kefir culture \u2013 they each provide something the other needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCooperation allows them to do something they couldn\u2019t do alone,\u201d says Kiran Patil, group leader and corresponding author of the paper. \u201cIt is particularly fascinating how L. kefiranofaciens<\/em>, which dominates the kefir community, uses kefir grains to bind together all other microbes that it needs to survive \u2013 much like the ruling ring of the Lord of the Rings<\/em>. One grain to bind them all<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A model for microbial interactions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Consumption of kefir originally became popular in Eastern Europe, Israel, and areas in and around Russia. It is composed of \u2018grains\u2019 that look like small pieces of cauliflower and have fermented in milk to produce a probiotic drink composed of bacteria and yeasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople were storing milk in sheepskins and noticed these grains that emerged kept their milk from spoiling, so they could store it longer,\u201d says Sonja Blasche, a postdoc in the Patil group and joint first author of the paper. \u201cBecause milk spoils fairly easily, finding a way to store it longer was of huge value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make kefir, you need kefir grains. These can\u2019t be artificially made, but must come from another batch of kefir. The grains are added to milk to ferment and grow. Approximately 24 to 48 hours later (or, in the case of this research, 90 hours later), the kefir grains have consumed the nutrients available to them. The grains grow in size and number in this time and the kefir process is complete. The grains are removed and added to fresh milk to begin the process anew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For scientists, however, kefir provides more than just a healthy beverage: it\u2019s an easy-to-culture model microbial community for studying metabolic interactions. And while kefir is quite similar to yogurt in many ways \u2013 both are fermented or cultured dairy products full of \u2018probiotics\u2019 \u2013 kefir\u2019s microbial community is far larger than yogurt\u2019s, including not just bacterial cultures but also yeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning from kefir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While scientists know that microorganisms often live in communities and depend on their fellow community members for survival, mechanistic knowledge of this phenomenon has been quite limited. Laboratory models historically have been limited to two or three microbial species, so Kefir offered \u2013 as Kiran describes \u2013 a \u2018Goldilocks zone\u2019 of complexity that is not too small (around 40 species), yet not too unwieldy to study in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonja started this research by gathering kefir samples from several places. While most samples were obtained in Germany, they\u2019re likely to have originated elsewhere, since kefir grains have been passed down over centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur first step was to look at how the samples grow. Kefir microbial communities have many member species with individual growth patterns that adapt to their current environment. This means fast- and slow-growing species and some that alter their speed according to nutrient availability,\u201d Sonja says. \u201cThis is not unique to the kefir community. However, the kefir community had a lot of lead time for co-evolution to bring it to perfection, as they have stuck together for a long time already.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooperation is the key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding out the extent and the nature of the cooperation between kefir microbes was far from straightforward. To do this, the researchers combined a variety of state-of-the-art methods such as metabolomics (studying metabolites\u2019 chemical processes), transcriptomics (studying the genome-produced RNA transcripts), and mathematical modelling. This revealed not only key molecular interaction agents like amino acids, but also the contrasting species dynamics between the grains and the milk part of kefir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kefir grain acts as a base camp for the kefir community, from which community members colonise the milk in a complex yet organised and cooperative manner,\u201d Kiran says. \u201cWe see this phenomenon in kefir, and then we see it\u2019s not limited to kefir. If you look at the whole world of microbiomes, cooperation is also a key to their structure and function.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, in another paper from Kiran\u2019s group in collaboration with EMBL\u2019s Bork group<\/a>, out today in Nature Ecology and Evolution<\/em><\/a>, scientists combined data from thousands of microbial communities across the globe \u2013 from soil to the human gut \u2013 to understand similar cooperative relationships. In this second paper, the researchers used advanced metabolic modelling to show that the co-occurring groups of bacteria, groups that are frequently found together in different habitats, are either highly competitive or highly cooperative. This stark polarisation hasn\u2019t been observed before and sheds light on evolutionary processes that shape microbial ecosystems. While both competitive and cooperative communities are prevalent, the cooperators seem to be more successful in terms of higher abundance and occupying diverse habitats. Stronger together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers discovered the dominant species of bacteria in kefir grains cannot endure without other species that help the ‘team’ survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":35028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17591],"tags":[1966,5660,373,581,233,70,768],"embl_taxonomy":[9596],"class_list":["post-35018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-science-technology","tag-amino-acid","tag-kefir","tag-microbe","tag-microbiology","tag-microbiome","tag-rna","tag-yeast","embl_taxonomy-embl-hamburg"],"acf":{"embl_taxonomy_term_who":false,"embl_taxonomy_term_what":false,"embl_taxonomy_term_where":false,"featured":true,"show_featured_image":false,"color":"#007B53","link_color":"#fff","article_intro":"

New research shows how cooperation among bacterial species allows them to thrive as a community<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"When microbes feed each other","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/1505-microbes\/"},{"link_description":"How wine-making yeast can feed wine-spoiling bacteria","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/microbe-interactions-wine-kefir\/"},{"link_description":"Molecular cuisine for gut bacteria","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/molecular-cuisine-gut-bacteria\/"},{"link_description":"Patil group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/patil\/"},{"link_description":"Bork group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/bork\/"},{"link_description":"EMBL Interdisciplinary Postdocs","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/postdoctoral-programme\/eipod4-fellowship-programme\/"}],"article_sources":[{"source_description":"

Blasche S, Kim Y, Mars R, Machado D, Maansson M, Kafkia E, Milanese A, Zeller G, Teusink B, Nielson J, Benes V, Neves R, Sauer U, Patil K. Nature Microbiology<\/em>, DOI: 10.1038\/S41564-020-00816-5<\/p>\n","source_link_url":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41564-020-00816-5"},{"source_description":"

Machado D, Maistrenko O, Andrejev S, Kim Y, Bork P, Patil Kastubh, Patil Kiran. Nature Ecology and Evolution<\/em>, DOI: 10.1038\/s41559-020-01353-4<\/p>\n","source_link_url":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41559-020-01353-4"}],"in_this_article":false,"youtube_url":"","mp4_url":"","video_caption":"","press_contact":"None","vf_locked":false,"field_target_display":"embl","source_article":false},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"613c4de5-1775-447f-af71-4b07085318e9\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Hamburg"],"slug":"embl-hamburg","description":"Where > All EMBL sites > EMBL Hamburg"}],"yoast_head":"\nIn kefir, microbial teamwork makes the dream work | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers discovered the dominant species of bacteria in kefir grains cannot endure without other species that help the 'team' survive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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