Metabolic Interactions between the Gut Microbiome and Host

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 2539

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Academy of National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, Beijing 100037, China
Interests: intestinal microbiome; probiotics; intestinal barrier; metabolome; intestinal innate immunity
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: nutrition; gut microbiota; IBD; NAFLD; intestinal barrier function
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host imparts metabolic, immune, and intestinal protective functions to healthy individuals. This interaction is largely determined by factors such as nutritional status and lifestyle habits. Diet is a major driver in shaping the gut microecosystem, which provides selective growth advantages for specific species of bacteria. Long-term dietary intervention can regulate the composition and function of intestinal microbiota in both humans and animals. Simultaneously, the metabolic activity of gut microbes also has an important impact on host health and the metabolic phenotype of the host, which can be beneficial or harmful. Gut microbiota imbalance is closely related to the occurrence and development of chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, depression, tumor, and so on. Therefore, it is vital to reveal the strain specificity that produces microbial metabolites, which will facilitate the identification and discovery of strains or specific metabolites for diseases for therapeutic purposes.

This Special Issue focuses on “Metabolic Interactions between the Gut Microbiome and Host” and welcomes the submission of original research and review articles focusing on the causal relationship and its intrinsic mechanisms between the gut microbiome and the host; however, research on new methods and technologies employed for studying key bacteria and their specific molecules, microbial heterogeneity, that will help us to understand the gut microbiota in depth is also welcome. This Special Issue will enlighten readers about new discoveries, advances, and developments in microbiome-related disease therapeutics.

Dr. Weiwei Wang
Dr. Yun Ji
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • gut microbiome
  • host
  • metabolome
  • microbial heterogeneity
  • biomolecules

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 4211 KiB  
Article
Generalized Ketogenic Diet Induced Liver Impairment and Reduced Probiotics Abundance of Gut Microbiota in Rat
by Ge Song, Dan Song, Yongwei Wang, Li Wang and Weiwei Wang
Biology 2024, 13(11), 899; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13110899 (registering DOI) - 4 Nov 2024
Abstract
The ketogenic diet is becoming an assisted treatment to control weight, obesity, and even type 2 diabetes. However, there has been no scientific proof supporting that the ketogenic diet is absolutely safe and sustainable. In this study, Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were fed different [...] Read more.
The ketogenic diet is becoming an assisted treatment to control weight, obesity, and even type 2 diabetes. However, there has been no scientific proof supporting that the ketogenic diet is absolutely safe and sustainable. In this study, Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were fed different ratios of fat to carbohydrates under the same apparent metabolizable energy level to evaluate the effects of a ketogenic diet on healthy subjects. The results showed that the ketogenic diet could relatively sustain body weight and enhance the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and serum alkaline phosphatase (SAP), leading to more moderate lipoidosis and milder local non-specific inflammation in the liver compared with the high-carbohydrate diet. In addition, the abundance of probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Faecalitalea were reduced with the ketogenic diet in rats, while an abundance of pathogenic strains such as Anaerotruncus, Enterococcus, Rothia, and Enterorhabdus were increased with both the ketogenic diet and the high-carbohydrate diet. This study suggests that the ketogenic diet can lead to impairments of liver function and changed composition of the gut microbiota in rats, which to some extent indicates the danger of consuming a generalized ketogenic diet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolic Interactions between the Gut Microbiome and Host)
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16 pages, 1581 KiB  
Article
Blood Metabolites and Faecal Microbial Communities in Nonpregnant and Early Gestation Ewes in Highly Cold Areas
by Zhiwu Wu, Yanyan Yang, Biao Wang, Kefyalew Gebeyew, Shaoxun Tang, Xuefeng Han, Zhixiong He and Zhiliang Tan
Biology 2023, 12(11), 1436; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12111436 - 16 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1628
Abstract
Ewes undergo complex metabolic changes during pregnancy. Understanding the specific process of these changes is a necessary prerequisite in ewes for regulating and intervening in order to maintain pregnancies. However, there have been relatively few studies on the specific changes that occur in [...] Read more.
Ewes undergo complex metabolic changes during pregnancy. Understanding the specific process of these changes is a necessary prerequisite in ewes for regulating and intervening in order to maintain pregnancies. However, there have been relatively few studies on the specific changes that occur in nutritional metabolism in pregnant ewes during early gestation, especially for some landrace ewes in highly cold areas. Therefore, this study aimed to (1) elucidate the changes in metabolites and microbial communities in pregnant ewes during early gestation using metabolomics and 16S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) amplicon sequencing approaches, and to (2) discover novel early pregnancy-induced biomarkers in the blood and faeces. Rams were placed together with ewes on D0 and removed on D45. During early gestation, blood and faecal samples were collected from ewes in a highly cold area for analysing the metabolites and microbial communities; these were retrospectively classified as the early gestation pregnant (EP) ewe group or the nonpregnant (NP) ewe group based on the lambing status recorded during the expected delivery period. The differences in the plasma biochemical parameters, plasma metabolites, and faecal microbial communities of pregnant and nonpregnant ewes were characterised. The GC, IL-6, O-acetyl-l-serine, L-glutamine, and 6-acetamido-2-oxohexanoic acid were screened out as potential biomarkers for evaluating the occurrence of early pregnancy. These novel early pregnancy-induced metabolites discovered in ewes might allow for the development of technologies to detect early pregnancies in sheep in highly cold areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolic Interactions between the Gut Microbiome and Host)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

1. Generalized ketogenic diet induced liver impairment and reduced probiotics abundance of gut microbiota in rat

Ge Song1, Li Wang1, Dan Song1, Yongwei Wang1, Weiwei Wang1*

1Academy of National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, Beijing 100037 China;

Abstract

Ketogenic diet is becoming an assisted treatment to control weight, obesity and even type 2 diabetes. However, there was no scientific proof supporting that the ketogenic diet was absolutely safe and sustainable. In this study, Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed different ratios of fat to carbohydrate under the same apparent metabolizable energy level to evaluate the effects of ketogenic diet on healthy subjects. The results showed that ketogenic diet could relatively sustain body weight, enhanced the level of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and serum alkaline phosphatase (SAP), more moderate lipoidosis, and milder local non-specific inflammation in liver, compared with the high carbohydrate diet. In addition, the abundance of probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus, Lactococcus and Faecalitalea were reduced in ketogenic diet of rats while the abundance of pathogenic strains such as Anaerotruncus, Enterococcus, Rothia and Enterorhabdus were increased in both ketogenic diet and high carbohydrate diet. This study suggests that ketogenic diet can lead to impairment of liver function and changed composition of gut microbiota in rat, which to some extent indicated the unsafety of consuming ketogenic diet.

Keywords: ketogenic diet; lipoidosis; gut microbiota; apparent metabolizable energy 

 

2. Benefits of polyphenols on gut microbiota and intestinal immune systems

Chenxu Zhao a,b,1, Ge Song b,1, Yuyu Chen b,c, Wentao Qi b,*, Yong Wang b,*

 

a College of Food Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, National Engineering Research Center for Rice and Byproduct Deep Processing, Changsha 410004, China

b Academy of National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, Beijing 100037, China

c School of Health Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China

Abstract

Polyphenols are widely available in the diet, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and many other benefits. Polyphenols regulate the health conditions via intestinal flora of the host. The interaction between polyphenols and gut flora would further influence intestinal immune system and gut barrier functions. Dietary polyphenols may promote health through interactions with the gut microbiota, modulation of the immune system, gut barrier function in various signal pathways. This review addresses the digestion, transportation, metabolites, and bio-function of polyphenols and the sources of polyphenols in food. The potential applications, future development, and challenges of polyphenols obtained from food are also explored.

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