Nature Medicine: Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolism - Scheiman

Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolism - Jonathan Scheiman et al

The human gut microbiome is linked to many states of human health and disease1. The metabolic repertoire of the gut micro-biome is vast, but the health implications of these bacterial pathways are poorly understood.

In this study, we identify a link between members of the genus Veillonella and exercise performance. We observed an increase in Veillonella relative abundance in marathon runners postmarathon and isolated a strain of Veillonella atypica from stool samples.

Inoculation of this strain into mice significantly increased exhaustive tread-mill run time. Veillonella utilize lactate as their sole carbon source, which prompted us to perform a shotgun metage-nomic analysis in a cohort of elite athletes, finding that every gene in a major pathway metabolizing lactate to propionate is at higher relative abundance postexercise.

Using 13C3-labeled lactate in mice, we demonstrate that serum lactate crosses the epithelial barrier into the lumen of the gut. We also show that intrarectal instillation of propionate is sufficient to repro-duce the increased treadmill run time performance observed with V. atypica gavage.

Taken together, these studies reveal that V. atypica improves run time via its metabolic conversion of exercise-induced lactate into propionate, thereby identify-ing a natural, microbiome-encoded enzymatic process that enhances athletic performance.

 

Discover Magazine has an article about the study: Elite Athletes Get a Performance Boost From Special Gut Microbes

If Veillonella eat lactate, maybe these athletes don’t feel so much of the burn, allowing them to do well at these high-endurance events. But, the researchers learned, the story is more complicated than that. When they looked at post-exercise mice with and without Veillonella in their systems, the animals’ lactate levels weren’t that different.

Instead, they looked closer at the propionate the gut bacteria were producing from the lactate. They gave mice (with no Veillonella) propionate enemas to see what effect the compound would have in the gut.

The propionate increased their treadmill endurance, just like the Veillonella had. The added endurance wasn’t because the elite athletes had less lactate, it was because they had more propionate.

Microbes For Fitness?
What, exactly, the propionate is doing isn’t totally settled yet, but this compound is known to do a couple of things in the body. It’s anti-inflammatory, and it can serve as an energy source to cells in the gut. It might also increase some nervous system capacities.