Archaebiotics concept

Archaea as next-generation probiotics ?
Archaebiotics, prophylactic pharmabiotics ? 


Our work has paved the way for exploring the properties of archaea as next-generation probiotics, and in fact pharmabiotics, named ARCHAEBIOTICS, and this for the prevention of serious pathologies. 


The use of these archaea would be innovative for several reasons: 

This is from the knowledge of the mechanism at the origin of the formation of plasma TMAO that a means of prevention has been thought. The goal is to intervene on the intestinal intermediary that is trimethylamine. This trimethylamine or TMA comes exclusively from the metabolism of various food molecules by some bacteria of the intestinal microbiota. Moreover, the anaerobic metabolism of TMA is still badly known, and only a few organisms can achieve it: those encoding the 22nd amino acid (Pyrrolysine): some Methanomassiliicoccales but not all, found in the intestinal microbiota of healthy people, can use it in a metabolism that is vital to them, methanogenesis, opening the door to the exploitation of Archaea as probiotics / pharmabiotics, the Archaebiotics. 

By intervening directly on intestinal TMA, archaebiotics could prevent cardiovascular diseases / atherosclerosis, and trimethylaminuria

Find here how archaebiotics could be active ...


the motivations


In 2011, the laboratory of Stanley Hazen (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) highlighted the involvement of a plasma molecule, the pTMAO, initially in atherosclerosis.

The origin of this plasma TMAO is dependent on both our food and its metabolism by the intestinal microbiota. In 2017, the first meta-analysis bringing together different studies / cohorts teached us that TMAO had a particularly deleterious role in human health and was an important cardiovascular risk factor, considered independently of  others (cholesterolemia, tobacco, etc.). These studies indicate a direct and dose-dependent association  between levels of plasma TMAO and all-cause mortality (see for example Schiattarella and al, 2017; European Heart Journal).

here in image

To go further...

You can find more information in various scientific publications or book chapters:

  • A few scientific articles (in English):
    • initial scientific article here presenting the concept
    • scientific article here with data including an inverse correlation between fecal TMA and rate of Methanomassiliicoccales
    • review about archaea with description of the concept (here, 2014)
    • chapters in book here , and especially this one to download here or online here


  • A non-expert article for wide public (in French) from the magazine "la Recherche"- n ° 532,, February 2018 

Other information about TMA, TMAO and pathologies

Microbial and dietary co-origin of plasma TMAO



here with figures / slideshow,

the origin of plasma TMAO

Link between intestinal TMA and plasma TMAO and consequences



here with figures / slideshow,

various pathologies in which intestinal TMA

and plasma TMAO are involved