Abstract

The human gut microbiota contains trillions of microorganisms, and it influences human health from various aspects. Gut dysbiosis is caused when the balance of gut microbiota is disrupted, leading to disease conditions. In China, gut diseases and dysbiosis are becoming more prevalent, meaning the need for treatment. MetaboMender is designated to detect, monitor, and regulate the concentration of specific gut metabolites through a food input in order to cure and prevent gut dysbiosis. We designed two programmable genetic systems for beneficial and harmful metabolites. Both systems use deoxycholic acid as an indicator of food intake to trigger the subsequent responses. We focused on butyrate and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) as the beneficial and harmful metabolites, respectively. When the butyrate level is low, our platform will supplement butyrate by expressing butyrate-producing enzymes. On the other hand, when the IAA level is too high, our platform will express IAA-degrading enzymes to reduce excessive IAA.