The Expobiome Map: exploring the role of microbiome-derived molecules

The human microbiome, the collection of microorganisms that live in and on our body, is intricately connected to our health. Recent studies have shown that these microbial communities are implicated in various diseases and that the molecules they produce could be drivers of many pathogenic processes, including inflammation. However, much remains to be discovered about the biology of the microbiome and its complex interactions with the human host, especially the way by which gut microbiome-derived molecules shape our immune response.

In health, the gut microbiome confers essential functions, such as digestion and synthesis of vitamins, contributes to the metabolism and plays an important role in the regulation of the immune system. In contrast, perturbations of this microbial community – called dysbiosis – have been reported in several chronic diseases associated with local or systemic inflammation, therefore crucial to understand how they affect the human body, including the immune system, from a systemic perspective,” explains Prof. Wilmes, head of the Systems Ecology group. https://expobiome.lcsb.uni.lu/minerva/

This is where the Expobiome Map, a new interactive tool developed as part of the ERC-funded project ExpoBiome led by Paul Wilmes, comes into play. It compiles the current knowledge about interactions between microbiomederived molecules and immune pathways, allowing scientists to explore the growing body of literature on the topic and providing a basis to develop new hypotheses.

“expobiome” by LCSB researchers. They include nucleic acids, peptides, proteins and metabolites, and impact human physiology in multiple ways. “In order to understand the causal roles of this molecular soup in the context of pathogenesis, it is

Members of the Systems Ecology group, the Bioinformatics Core and the Medical Translational Research group collaborated to integrate information from several databases and from the literature in the form of a visual display. The resulting map showcases a complex network of interactions involving numerous combinations of molecules, which contribute to many different disease processes. It can be browsed online and will help the scientific community to identify knowledge gaps or make inferences on likely links between specific microbes and diseases.

“It is meant as a way to connect the dots, a basis to contextualise and expand our current understanding of the mechanistic role of the gut microbiome in human health and disease,” concludes Wilmes. ¢