Abstract
The gastrointestinal tract is populated by an array of microbial species that play an important role in metabolic and immune functions. The composition of microorganisms is influenced by the components of the host’s diet and can impact health. In the present study, dietary enrichment of lowbush wild blueberries (LWB) was examined to determine their effect on colon microbial composition and their potential in promoting gut health. The microbial composition and functional potential of the colon microbiota from Sprague Dawley rats fed control diets (AIN93) and LWB-enriched diets (AIN93+8% LWB powder substituting for dextrose) for 6 weeks were assessed using Illumina shotgun sequencing and bioinformatics tools. Our analysis revealed an alteration in the relative abundance of 3 phyla and 22 genera as representing approximately 14 and 8% of all phyla and genera identified, respectively. The LWB-enriched diet resulted in a significant reduction in the relative abundance of the genera Lactobacillus and Enterococcus. In addition, hierarchal analysis revealed a significant increase in the relative abundance of the phylum Actinobacteria, the order Actinomycetales, and several novel genera under the family Bifidobacteriaceae and Coriobacteriaceae, in the LWB group. Functional annotation of the shotgun sequences suggested that approximately 9% of the 4709 Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Gene and Genome (KEGG) hits identified were impacted by the LWB-diet. Open Reading Frames (ORFs) assigned to KEGG category xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism were significantly greater in the LWB-enriched diet compared to the control and included the pathway for benzoate degradation [PATH:ko00362] and glycosaminoglycan degradation [PATH:ko00531]. Moreover, the number of ORFs assigned to the bacterial invasion of epithelial cells [PATH:ko05100] pathway was approximately 8 fold lower in the LWB group compared to controls. This study demonstrated that LWBs have the potential to promote gut health and can aid in the development of optimal diets.
Highlights
Dietary enrichment of blueberries demonstrated impacts on gut microbial population dynamics and gastro-intestinal tract (GI) health [1,2,3]
Lowbush wild blueberries have demonstrated several health benefits, including attenuation of indicators of metabolic syndrome and inflammation, little is known of role of gut flora in this process [5,6,7]
Three-week old Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, approximately 90 g in weight, were obtained from Charles River Laboratories (Wilmington, MA). They were randomly divided into 2 groups: the control group (N = 4), which was fed a control diet (AIN93), and the treatment group (N = 5), which was fed a blueberry-enriched diet, (AIN93+8% w/w lowbush wild blueberries (LWB) powder substituting for dextrose) [23]
Summary
Dietary enrichment of blueberries demonstrated impacts on gut microbial population dynamics and gastro-intestinal tract (GI) health [1,2,3]. Lowbush wild blueberries have demonstrated several health benefits, including attenuation of indicators of metabolic syndrome and inflammation, little is known of role of gut flora in this process [5,6,7]. The intestinal absorption of dietary polyphenols is often slow and largely incomplete, and up to 85% of lowbush blueberry anthocyanins enter the colon intact, depending on moiety and glycosylation pattern [14]. Several metabolic pathways were proposed for the catabolism of phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and proanthocyanidins by the intestinal microbiota [15,16]. Different metabolic pathways for the digestion of polyphenols could be attributed to variations in the microbiota composition, and different pathways could coexist, depending on the catabolic capacity of the microbiota [17]
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