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Frontiers in Microbiology 2021(captivity in zoos) is regarded as an important form of conservation for endangered animals. Many studies have compared differences in the gut microbiome between...
(captivity in zoos) is regarded as an important form of conservation for endangered animals. Many studies have compared differences in the gut microbiome between captive and wild animals, but few have explained those differences at the functional level due to the limited amount of 16S rRNA data. Here, we compared the gut microbiome of captive and wild , whose high degree of dietary specificity makes it a good subject to observe the effects of the captive environment on their gut microbiome, by performing a metagenome-wide association study (MWAS). The Chao1 index was significantly higher in the captive cohort than in the wild cohort, and the Shannon index of captive was higher than that of the wild cohort but the difference was not significant. A significantly increased ratio of /, which revealed an increased ability to digest simple carbohydrates, was found in the captive cohort. A significant decrease in the abundance of Firmicutes and enrichment of genes related to the pentose phosphate pathway were noted in the captive cohort, indicating a decreased ability of captive monkeys to digest fiber. Additionally, genes required for glutamate biosynthesis were also significantly more abundant in the captive cohort than in the wild cohort. These changes in the gut microbiome correspond to changes in the composition of the diet in captive animals, which has more simple carbohydrates and less crude fiber and protein than the diet of the wild animals. In addition, more unique bacteria in captive were involved in antibiotic resistance () and diarrhea (), and in the prevention of diarrhea () caused by . Accordingly, our data reveal the cause-and-effect relationships between changes in the exact dietary composition and changes in the gut microbiome on both the structural and functional levels by comparing of captive and wild .
PubMed: 34950117
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.763022 -
Digestive Diseases and Sciences Feb 2024We recently demonstrated that diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) subjects have higher relative abundance (RA) of hydrogen sulfide (HS)-producing...
BACKGROUND
We recently demonstrated that diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) subjects have higher relative abundance (RA) of hydrogen sulfide (HS)-producing Fusobacterium and Desulfovibrio species, and constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) subjects have higher RA of methanogen Methanobrevibacter smithii.
AIMS
In this study, we investigate the effects of increased methanogens or HS producers on stool phenotypes in rat models.
METHODS
Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were fed high-fat diet (HFD) for 60 days to increase M. smithii levels, then gavaged for 10 days with water (controls) or methanogenesis inhibitors. To increase HS producers, rats were gavaged with F. varium or D. piger. Stool consistency (stool wet weight (SWW)) and gas production were measured. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on stool samples.
RESULTS
In HFD diet-fed rats (N = 30), stool M. smithii levels were increased (P < 0.001) after 52 days, correlating with significantly decreased SWW (P < 0.0001) at 59 days (R = - 0.38, P = 0.037). Small bowel M. smithii levels decreased significantly in lovastatin lactone-treated rats (P < 0.0006), and SWW increased (normalized) in lovastatin hydroxyacid-treated rats (P = 0.0246), vs. controls (N = 10/group). SWW increased significantly in D. piger-gavaged rats (N = 16) on day 10 (P < 0.0001), and in F. varium-gavaged rats (N = 16) at all timepoints, vs. controls, with increased stool HS production. 16S sequencing revealed stool microbiota alterations in rats gavaged with HS producers, with higher relative abundance (RA) of other HS producers, particularly Lachnospiraceae and Bilophila in F. varium-gavaged rats, and Sutterella in D. piger-gavaged rats.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that increased M. smithii levels result in a constipation-like phenotype in a rat model that is partly reversible with methanogenesis inhibitors, whereas gavage with HS producers D. piger or F. varium results in increased colonization with other HS producers and diarrhea-like phenotypes. This supports roles for the increased RA of methanogens and HS producers identified in IBS-C and IBS-D subjects, respectively, in contributing to stool phenotypes.
Topics: Humans; Adult; Rats; Animals; Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Hydrogen Sulfide; Methane; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Constipation; Diarrhea; Models, Animal; Lovastatin
PubMed: 38060167
DOI: 10.1007/s10620-023-08197-5 -
Biomolecules Jun 2020A comparative study of the kinetic characteristics (specific activity, initial and maximum rate, and affinity for substrates) of key enzymes of assimilatory sulfate...
A comparative study of the kinetic characteristics (specific activity, initial and maximum rate, and affinity for substrates) of key enzymes of assimilatory sulfate reduction (APS reductase and dissimilatory sulfite reductase) in cell-free extracts of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) from various biotopes was performed. The material for the study represented different strains of SRB from various ecotopes. Microbiological (isolation and cultivation), biochemical (free cell extract preparation) and chemical (enzyme activity determination) methods served in defining kinetic characteristics of SRB enzymes. The determined affinity data for substrates (i.e., sulfite) were 10 times higher for SRB strains isolated from environmental (soil) ecotopes than for strains from the human intestine. The maximum rate of APS reductase reached 0.282-0.862 µmol/min×mg of protein that is only 10 to 28% higher than similar initial values. The maximum rate of sulfite reductase for corrosive relevant collection strains and SRB strains isolated from heating systems were increased by 3 to 10 times. A completely different picture was found for the intestinal SRB V in the strains Desulfovibrio piger Vib-7 (0.67 µmol/min × mg protein) and Desulfomicrobium orale Rod-9 (0.45 µmol/min × mg protein). The determinant in the cluster distribution of SRB strains is the activity of the terminal enzyme of dissimilatory sulfate reduction-sulfite reductase, but not APS reductase. The data obtained from the activity of sulfate reduction enzymes indicated the adaptive plasticity of SRB strains that is manifested in the change in enzymatic activity.
Topics: Adenosine Phosphosulfate; Biodegradation, Environmental; Desulfovibrio desulfuricans; Desulfovibrio vulgaris; Hydrogen Sulfide; Oxidoreductases Acting on Sulfur Group Donors
PubMed: 32560561
DOI: 10.3390/biom10060921 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2024Hypertrophic scars affect a significant number of individuals annually, giving rise to both cosmetic concerns and functional impairments. Prior research has established...
Hypertrophic scars affect a significant number of individuals annually, giving rise to both cosmetic concerns and functional impairments. Prior research has established that an imbalance in the composition of gut microbes, termed microbial dysbiosis, can initiate the progression of various diseases through the intricate interplay between gut microbiota and the host. However, the precise nature of the causal link between gut microbiota and hypertrophic scarring remains uncertain. In this study, after compiling summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) involving 418 instances of gut microbiota and hypertrophic scarring, we conducted a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the potential existence of a causal relationship between gut microbiota and the development of hypertrophic scar and to discern the directionality of causation. By utilizing MR analysis, we identified seven causal associations between gut microbiome and hypertrophic scarring, involving one positive and six negative causal directions. Among them, , , , , , and act as protective factors against hypertrophic scarring, while suggests a potential role as a risk factor for hypertrophic scars. Additionally, sensitivity analyses of these results revealed no indications of heterogeneity or pleiotropy. The findings of our MR study suggest a potential causative link between gut microbiota and hypertrophic scarring, opening up new ways for future mechanistic research and the exploration of nanobiotechnology therapies for skin disorders.
PubMed: 38577682
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1345717 -
Microorganisms Aug 2021This study was conducted to compare the infection heterogeneity and cecal microbiota in chicks infected by . Forty-eight 8-d-old female Arbor Acres chicks were...
This study was conducted to compare the infection heterogeneity and cecal microbiota in chicks infected by . Forty-eight 8-d-old female Arbor Acres chicks were challenged with and euthanized 24 h later. The eight chicks with the highest tissue loads were assigned to group S (-susceptible), and the eight chicks with the lowest tissue loads were assigned to group R (-resistant). Chicks in group S showed a higher liver index ( < 0.05), obvious liver lesions, and an decreasing trend for the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio ( < 0.10), compared with those in group R. Gene expression of , , and was higher, whereas that of and was lower ( < 0.05), in chicks of group R relative to those in group S. Separation of the cecal microbial community structure has been found between the two groups. The -susceptible chicks showed higher abundance of pathogenic bacteria ( and ) in their cecal, while was enriched in the cecal of -resistant chicks. In summary, chicks showed heterogeneous responses to infection. Enhanced intestinal barrier function and cecal microbiota structure, especially a higher abundance of , may help chicks resist invasion.
PubMed: 34442784
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9081705 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2020Gut dysbiosis has been associated with several disease outcomes including diabetes in human populations. Currently, there are no studies of the gut microbiome...
Gut dysbiosis has been associated with several disease outcomes including diabetes in human populations. Currently, there are no studies of the gut microbiome composition in relation to type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Africans. Here, we describe the profile of the gut microbiome in non-diabetic adults (controls) and investigate the association between gut microbiota and T2D in urban West Africans. Gut microbiota composition was determined in 291 Nigerians (98 cases, 193 controls) using fecal 16S V4 rRNA gene sequencing done on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Data analysis of operational taxonomic units (OTU) was conducted to describe microbiome composition and identify differences between T2D and controls. The most abundant phyla were , and . , and were significantly lower in cases than controls ( < 0.001). Feature selection analysis identified a panel of 18 OTUs enriched in cases that included . A panel of 17 OTUs that was enriched in the controls included , and . OTUs with strain-level annotation showing the largest fold-change included (logFC = -3.1; = 4.2 × 10), (logFC = -2.5; = 0.005), (logFC = -1.76; = 0.01), all lower in cases. These findings are notable because supplementation with and has been shown to improve hyperglycemia and reduce insulin resistance in murine models. This first investigation of gut microbiome and diabetes in urban Africans shows that T2D is associated with compositional changes in gut microbiota highlighting the possibility of developing strategies to improve glucose control by modifying bacterial composition in the gut.
Topics: Actinobacteria; Bacteroidetes; Black People; Case-Control Studies; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Dysbiosis; Female; Firmicutes; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents; Male; Metformin; Middle Aged; Nigeria; Urban Health
PubMed: 32158702
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.00063 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jul 2019The small-large intestine axis in hydrogen sulfide accumulation and testing of sulfate and lactate in the gut-gut axis of the intestinal environment has not been well...
UNLABELLED
The small-large intestine axis in hydrogen sulfide accumulation and testing of sulfate and lactate in the gut-gut axis of the intestinal environment has not been well described. Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) of the genus reduce sulfate to hydrogen sulfide and can be involved in ulcerative colitis development. The background of the research was to find correlations between hydrogen sulfide production under the effect of an electron acceptor (sulfate) and donor (lactate) at different concentrations and Vib-7 growth, as well as their dissimilatory sulfate reduction in the intestinal small-large intestinal environment.
METHODS
Microbiological, biochemical, and biophysical methods, and statistical processing of the results (principal component and cross-correlation analyses) were used.
RESULTS
Vib-7 showed increased intensity of bacterial growth and hydrogen sulfide production under the following concentrations of sulfate and lactate: 17.4 mM and 35.6 mM, respectively. The study showed in what kind of intestinal environment Vib-7 grows at the highest level and produces the highest amount of hydrogen sulfide.
CONCLUSIONS
The optimum intestinal environment of Vib-7 can serve as a good indicator of the occurrence of inflammatory bowel diseases; meaning that these findings can be broadly used in medicine practice dealing with the monitoring and diagnosis of intestinal ailments.
PubMed: 31330956
DOI: 10.3390/jcm8071054 -
Scientific Reports Apr 2022In the present study, we elucidated the effect of grain-based (GB) diet containing both soluble and insoluble fibers and purified ingredients-based (PIB) diet containing...
In the present study, we elucidated the effect of grain-based (GB) diet containing both soluble and insoluble fibers and purified ingredients-based (PIB) diet containing only insoluble fiber, namely cellulose on mice gut microbiome using whole shotgun based metagenomic sequencing. Although the fiber content in both diet types is the same (5%) the presence of soluble fiber only in the GB diet differentiates it from the PIB diet. The taxonomic analysis of sequenced reads reveals a significantly higher enrichment of probiotic Lactobacilli in the GB group as compared to the PIB group. Further, the enhancement of energy expensive cellular processes namely, cell cycle control, cell division, chromosome partitioning, and transcription is observed in the GB group which could be due to the metabolization of the soluble fiber for faster energy production. In contrast, a higher abundance of cellulolytic bacterial community namely, the members of family Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae and the metabolism functions are found in the PIB group. The PIB group shows a significant increase in host-derived oligosaccharide metabolism functions indicating that they might first target the host-derived oligosaccharides and self-stored glycogen in addition to utilising the available cellulose. In addition to the beneficial microbial community variations, both the groups also exhibited an increased abundance of opportunistic pathobionts which could be due to an overall low amount of fiber in the diet. Furthermore, backtracing analysis identified probiotic members of Lactobacillus, viz., L. crispatus ST1, L. fermentum CECT 5716, L. gasseri ATCC 33323, L. johnsonii NCC 533 and L. reuteri 100-23 in the GB group, while Bilophila wadsworthia 3_1_6, Desulfovibrio piger ATCC 29098, Clostridium symbiosum WAL-14163, and Ruminococcaceae bacterium D16 in the PIB group. These data suggest that Lactobacilli, a probiotic community of microorganisms, are the predominant functional contributors in the gut of GB diet-fed mice, whereas pathobionts too coexisted with commensals in the gut microbiome of the PIB group. Thus at 5% fiber, GB modifies the gut microbial ecology more effectively than PIB and the inclusion of soluble fiber in the GB diet may be one of the primary factors responsible for this impact.
Topics: Animals; Cellulose; Diet; Dietary Fiber; Edible Grain; Lactobacillus; Metagenome; Metagenomics; Mice; Prebiotics
PubMed: 35468931
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10762-3 -
PeerJ 2021(DSV) is frequently found in the human intestine but limited knowledge is available regarding the relationship between DSV and host health. In this study, we analyzed...
(DSV) is frequently found in the human intestine but limited knowledge is available regarding the relationship between DSV and host health. In this study, we analyzed large-scale cohort data from the Guangdong Gut Microbiome Project to study the ecology of DSV and the associations of DSV and host health parameters. Phylogenetic analysis showed that might be the most common and abundant DSV species in the GGMP. Predominant sub-OTUs of DSV were positively associated with bacterial community diversity. The relative abundance of DSV was positively correlated with beneficial genera, including , ,,,, and, and was negatively associated with harmful genera, such as ,,, and Moreover, the relative abundance of DSV was negatively correlated with body mass index, waist size, triglyceride levels, and uric acid levels. This suggests that DSV is associated with healthy hosts in some human populations.
PubMed: 34466295
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12033 -
Veterinary Sciences Sep 2022The backfat thickness of pigs not only affects the physical properties and taste of meat, but it also closely relates to the reproduction performance of sows....
The backfat thickness of pigs not only affects the physical properties and taste of meat, but it also closely relates to the reproduction performance of sows. Accumulating evidence indicates that, apart from genetic factors, gut microbiota can also modulate the fat deposition and muscle growth. However, the differential microbiota in pigs with different backfat thickness, and whether microbiota affects backfat thickness, remains elusive. Firstly, 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene sequencing was performed on 62 fecal samples from pigs with different backfat thicknesses, and the compositions of microbiota among different groups with different backfat thicknesses were different. The abundance of Lactobacillus. reuteri (L. reuteri) and Prevotella sp RS2 was significantly higher in pigs with low-backfat thickness than that in pigs with middle and high-backfat thickness; meanwhile, the abundance of Desulfovibrio piger was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in pigs with low-backfat thickness. Furthermore, the functional profiling of microbial communities suggested that the abundance of isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis and styrene degradation were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the low-backfat thickness group than that in middle and high-backfat thickness groups. Finally, L. reuteri fed to Meishan piglets was capable of improving the production performance and had the potential to reduce backfat thickness. This study provides new evidence that microbiota can regulate the phenotype of the host, and dietary supplementation with L. reuteri can improve the production performance of piglets.
PubMed: 36288140
DOI: 10.3390/vetsci9100527