Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp.j. That's Y-A-K-U-Lt.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific Americans' 60 Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkins. This will just take a minute.

Pack rat. The name is synonymous with hoarding. And researchers have learned that pack rats can actually increase the range of foods they're able to eat because of their collection of gut bacteria.

Pack rats live in the American Southwest, where they gnaw on the native vegetation. Some of these plants produce protective toxins, for example the junipers in the Great Basin Desert,

or the creosote bushes of the Mojave.

But pack rats seem to eat these noxious shrubs with impunity.

The researchers found that pack rats from the mojave harbor gut bacteria that can break down creosote.

When antibiotics depleted the pack rat's gut bacteria,

the animal suddenly found creosote nearly indigestible. Further, the researchers found that they

could take pack rats from the Great Basin, the ones that eat juniper, and give them the ability

to eat creosote. All they needed was a fecal transplant, which supplied the necessary gut bacteria

from their Mojave-based neighbors.

The work appears in the journal Ecology Letters.

The findings show the importance of gut bacteria for eating some otherwise dicey foods.

They could also allow farmers to expand the diet of their livestock.

Cows with the right gut bacteria could feast on what was formerly fae.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific Americans' 60-second science, I'm Karen Hopkin.

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