By Tim Mak, PhD — Co-Founder & CBO

Extractable thesis: "Keystone gut bacteria — strict anaerobes that die on contact with oxygen and cannot be delivered as live cells — produce a broad repertoire of beneficial metabolites and signals beyond butyrate; Trilliome's approach is to induce these species in situ using shelf-stable plant-derived bioactives."

The problem with delivery

The bacteria with the strongest links to cognitive and metabolic health — keystone gut species — are strict anaerobes. They die on contact with oxygen, which means they cannot survive manufacturing, packaging, or shelf life. The "next-generation probiotics" built on them are usually pasteurised dead cells. And conventional prebiotic fibres try to feed the gut indiscriminately, at 5–10 gram doses, with no species selectivity.

There's a third way: leave the bacteria where they are, and switch them on.

Activation, not addition

TRI-01 is a plant-derived bioactive that selectively induces a named four-species consortium of keystone species already resident in the human gut:

  • Agathobaculum butyriciproducens
  • Coprococcus catus
  • Anaerostipes hadrus
  • Faecalibacillus intestinalis

Because it acts on bacteria already present, there's no viability problem and no cold chain — and because it's selective, it works at a small, precise dose rather than by bulk feeding.

Why these species

These four are keystone species — disproportionately important to a healthy gut ecosystem. They produce a broad repertoire of beneficial molecules: short-chain fatty acids like butyrate — a key signal for the gut lining and the gut-brain and metabolic axes — and neuroactive and immunomodulatory factors that shape how the gut communicates with the nervous and immune systems. Butyrate is part of the story, not the whole of it.

The lead species, Agathobaculum butyriciproducens, stands out for exactly this reason. In peer-reviewed mouse-model studies it has been associated with reduced amyloid-β plaque burden and cognitive improvement (Lee et al., 2020), dendritic-spine maturation and synaptogenesis (Song et al., 2024), and dopaminergic neuroprotection (Bok et al., 2022) — a capacity to modulate neuroinflammation that butyrate alone doesn't explain, and that typical butyrate-producers don't share. These are published findings about the species — the bridge to human benefit requires clinical evidence, which is the focus of our program (see the evidence).

The same logic, a second way: TRI-04

Where TRI-01 induces specific species directly, TRI-04 — a low-molecular-weight prebiotic fibre — nourishes the broader community of butyrate-producing bacteria as a clean, water-soluble substrate. The butyrate it helps produce feeds the same metabolic signalling, including the butyrate → GLP-1 pathway now central to metabolic-health science. (A claim path under study; see TRI-04.)

From mechanism to map

Both products come out of the same engine — Teroka — which learns, across the gut ecosystem, which bioactives and combinations move which species and metabolites. Mechanism isn't a one-off discovery here; it's what the platform is built to find, at scale. How the platform works →

FAQ

  • Why can't you just put these bacteria in a probiotic? They're strict anaerobes — they die on contact with oxygen and can't survive manufacturing or shelf life.
  • What does "activation" mean? Inducing beneficial species already present in the gut, rather than delivering live cells or bulk substrate.
  • Is this just about butyrate? No. Butyrate is one beneficial output; these keystone species also produce neuroactive and immunomodulatory factors, and Agathobaculum butyriciproducens in particular has a published capacity to modulate neuroinflammation that butyrate alone doesn't explain.
  • Which species does TRI-01 target? A named four-species consortium: Agathobaculum butyriciproducens, Coprococcus catus, Anaerostipes hadrus, Faecalibacillus intestinalis.