High sugar diet alters immune function and the gut microbiome in juvenile green iguanas (Iguana iguana)

Abstract

The present work aimed to study whether a high sugar diet can alter immune responses and the gut microbiome in green iguanas. Thirty-six iguanas were split into four treatment groups using a 2x2 design. Iguanas either received a sugar supplemented diet or a control diet, and either received a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection or a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) injection. Iguanas were given their respective diet treatment through the entire study (∼3 months) and received a primary immune challenge one month and two months into the experiment. Blood samples and cloacal swabs were taken at various points in the experiment and used to measure changes in the immune system (bacterial killing ability, lysis and agglutination scores, LPS specific IgY concentrations), and alterations in the gut microbiome. We found that sugar diet reduces bacterial killing ability following an LPS challenge, and sugar and the immune challenge temporarily alters gut microbiome composition while reducing alpha diversity. While sugar did not directly reduce lysis and agglutination following the immune challenge, the change in these scores over a 24-hour period following an immune challenge was more drastic (it decreased) relative to the control diet group. Moreover, sugar increased constitutive agglutination outside of the immune challenges (i.e., pre-challenge levels). In this study, we provide evidence that a high sugar diet affects the immune system of green iguanas (in a disruptive manner) and alters the gut microbiome.