Candidate probiotic Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HNU082 rapidly and convergently evolves within human, mice, and zebrafish gut but differentially influences the resident microbiome.

Collectively, our results suggest a highly convergent adaptation strategy of Lp082 across three different host environments. In contrast, the evolutionary changes within the resident gut microbes in response to Lp082 were more divergent and host-specific; however, these changes were not associated with any adverse outcomes. This work lays a theoretical foundation for leveraging animal models for ex vivo engineering of probiotics to improve engraftment outcomes in humans. Video abstract.