Inter-species Metabolic Interactions in an In-vitro Minimal Human Gut Microbiome of Core Bacteria.

Knowledge of the functional roles and interspecies interactions are crucial for improving our understanding of the human intestinal microbiome in health and disease. However, the complexity of the human intestinal microbiome and technical challenges in investigating it pose major challenges. In this proof-of-concept study, we rationally designed, assembled and experimentally tested a synthetic Diet-based Minimal Microbiome (Db-MM) consisting of ten core intestinal bacterial species that together are capable of efficiently converting dietary fibres into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Despite their genomic potential for metabolic competition, all ten bacteria coexisted during growth on a mixture of dietary fibres, including pectin, inulin, xylan, cellobiose and starch. By integrated analyses of metabolite production, community composition and metatranscriptomics-based gene expression data, we identified interspecies metabolic interactions leading to production of key SCFAs such as butyrate and propionate. While public goods, such as sugars liberated from colonic fibres, are harvested by non-degraders, some species thrive by cross-feeding on energetically challenging substrates, including the butyrogenic conversion of acetate and lactate. Using a reductionist approach in an in-vitro system combined with functional measurements, our study provides key insights into the complex interspecies metabolic interactions between core intestinal bacterial species.

Goal Setting in Teams: Goal Clarity and Team Performance in the Public Sector.

With the rise of performance management, work in the public sector has changed. An output focus has become more common. Other changes include decentralization and managing organizations more horizontally. Setting performance goals and working in teams exemplify these developments. Despite an extensive literature on goal setting, research on goal setting in teams and empirical studies in public organizations have been largely absent. This study contributes to the fields of public management and teamwork by examining whether and under what team conditions clear goals contribute to team performance in the Dutch public sector. Analyses on survey data (n = 105 teams) show that both goal clarity and self-management positively affect team performance. The effect of goal clarity on team performance is not affected by teamwork though, indicated by insignificant moderation effects of self-management and information elaboration. Suggestions are offered for future research to better understand goal setting in public sector teams.