Biodiversity responses of gut mycobiota and bacteriophages induced by probiotic consumption

Abstract

An increasing number of studies have widely recognized that the gut mycobiota and bacteriophages are closely related to human health and disease, although little is known about the responses of fungi and phages that are induced by probiotics. In this study, based on published longitudinal cohorts, a meta-analysis of intestinal fungi and bacteriophages after probiotic consumption was performed. On the fungi, our results showed that probiotics had an effect size on the composition of intestinal fungi, and the strain specificity of probiotics were the most important influencing factors. In terms of phage, probiotics regulated the gut microbiome, which led to elevation and diminishment of multiple phages in the gut, although dramatic changes did not occur in the diversity and structure of intestinal bacteriophages after intervention with probiotics. Our study extended the understanding of the effects of probiotics on intestinal fungi and bacteriophages.