Abstract
Pectin is a complex dietary fiber and a prebiotic. To investigate pectin-induced changes in the gut microbiome and their effects on the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production, we performed in vitro pectin fermentation using the feces of three Korean donors. The pectin degradations in all three donors were observed. While the donors displayed differences in baseline gut microbiota composition, commonly increased bacteria after pectin fermentation included Lachnospira, Dorea, Clostridium, and Sutterella. Regarding SCFAs, acetate levels rapidly increased with incubation with pectin, and butyrate levels also increased after 6 h of incubation. The results suggest that pectin fermentation increases bacterial species belonging to Clostridium cluster XIV (Lachnospira, Dorea, and Clostridium), with Lachnospira displaying the greatest increase. The results also confirm that pectin fermentation leads to the production of acetate and butyrate.
Highlights
Recent studies have demonstrated that the gut microbiota plays important roles in human health, and are associated with diseases
Almost all of the carbohydrates in the medium were consumed within 18 h in all experimental groups. These results suggest that the carbohydrate components in the medium were used by the gut microbiota present in the feces, and that the pectin was decomposed and used by the gut microbiota
The results suggest that the gut microbiota composition differed between the donors because the ratios of reducing sugar production and consumption varied
Summary
Recent studies have demonstrated that the gut microbiota plays important roles in human health, and are associated with diseases. Pectin is degraded by the gut microbiota, producing SCFAs and changing the composition of the intestinal microbiota (Chung et al 2016; Marounek and Dušková 1999). Many studies have confirmed the degradation of pectin and the production of SCFAs by gut microbiota species of the genera Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, Anaerostipes, and Roseburia (Duncan et al 2004), very few metagenomics studies have been performed on the human gut microbiota following in vitro fermentation of pectin. No studies have been performed examining pectin utilization and gut microbiota changes in Koreans, which have high vegetable consumption. In this study, we explored the process of pectin degradation and the compositional changes in the gut microbiota of three Korean subjects after pectin fermentation
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