Shah Lab
Enzymes and Microbiomes

1. Human Microbiome: Human microbiome produces many unexplored metabolites. These metabolites can have variety of functions. These include: (i) Metabolites produced by one microbe that can either be beneficial or detrimental to another microbe of human microbiome or to the host. (ii) Different microbes that can join forces to make a particular metabolite which can influence host metabolism.

Metabolites produced by the microbiome are built by enzymes. The enzymes can either arise from one single continuous metabolic pathway or can come from multiple metabolic pathways. These can be in the form of two or more pathways merging from two different microbes. Understanding the metabolic pathways and enzymatic activities can enable development of tools to engineer a beneficial microbiome.