Clara Bardeen Rose Hills
Using bacterial protein BtuG to find B12 analogs in fermented foods
Vitamin B12 is crucial for human health and can only be obtained through food sources. Archaea and bacteria produce many different corrinoids, which include vitamin B12 and B12 analogs. Since bacteria and archaea contribute to the fermentation process, they may also produce corrinoids in fermented foods. The focus of this research is to identify and quantify the diversity of these corrinoids in fermented foods. To accomplish this, a method to extract corrinoids from fermented food will be developed using the bacterial protein BtuG, which binds B12 for uptake by the human gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. BtuG will be leveraged as a corrinoid-binding protein to isolate corrinoids from food samples. After isolation, high performance liquid chromatography will be used to identify the different corrinoids present – including vitamin B12. Quantifying the amount and identity of corrinoids in fermented foods can help inform nutritional strategies to prevent B12 deficiency, which can lead to muscle weakness and dementia. This capability will represent a significant improvement in corrinoid detection methods and could potentially be used to inform public health strategies.
Message To Sponsor
I sincerely appreciate your generosity in funding my research project. Words cannot express how excited I am to explore corrinoid biology in commercial food products to help combat global vitamin B12 deficiency. I look forward to advancing nutritional and microbial knowledge this summer. Thank you so very much!