Glycan Catabolism and Systemic Physiology

The human intestine hosts trillions of bacteria that directly influence human health. The majority of gut microbes play a significant role in nutrition by digesting host-indigestible complex glycans into short-chain fatty acids. Development of the mesh-like peptidoglycan (PG) sacculus located between the bacterial inner and outer membranes (OM) is tightly regulated to ensure maintain cell shape and cellular integrity. Cytoskeletal elements focus on location and activity of PG synthases from inside the cell, but exact spatiotemporal regulator over this process is poorly understood. Glycan catabolism contains metabolic pathway maps for glycans. Some of them contain a substitute representation of glycan biosynthesis or degradation, called the glycan structure map.