Scientists used AI structure-prediction (AlphaFold) to discover that gut bacteria called Ruminococcus build much more elaborate molecular machinery for breaking down tough plant fibers than anyone realized, including specialized versions built to attack resistant starches.
1
AlphaFold2 structural predictions uncovered cellulosome machinery in six previously unrecognized human-associated Ruminococcus species that sequence-based methods missed entirely
2
Structure-based clustering identified several novel cohesin protein families with conserved 3D folds despite extreme sequence divergence
3
Ruminococcus difficilis was found to carry an atypical cohesin-based assembly enriched in amylases, suggesting a specialized system for degrading resistant starches that evade upper-gut digestion
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