Prebiotic potential of pectin and pectic oligosaccharides to promote anti-inflammatory commensal bacteria in the human colon

Abstract

Dietary plant cell wall carbohydrates are important in modulating the composition and metabolism of the complex gut microbiota, which can impact on health. Pectin is a major component of plant cell walls. Based on studies in model systems and available bacterial isolates and genomes, the capacity to utilise pectins for growth is widespread among colonic Bacteroidetes but relatively uncommon among Firmicutes. One Firmicutes species promoted by pectin is Eubacterium eligens. Eubacterium eligens DSM3376 utilises apple pectin and encodes a broad repertoire of pectinolytic enzymes, including a highly abundant pectate lyase of around 200 kDa that is expressed constitutively. We confirmed that certain Faecalibacterium prausnitzii strains possess some ability to utilise apple pectin and report here that F. prausnitzii strains in common with E. eligens can utilise the galacturonide oligosaccharides DP4 and DP5 derived from sugar beet pectin. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii strains have been shown previously to exert anti-inflammatory effects on host cells, but we show here for the first time that E. eligens strongly promotes the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in in vitro cell-based assays. These findings suggest the potential to explore further the prebiotic potential of pectin and its derivatives to re-balance the microbiota towards an anti-inflammatory profile.

Prebiotic compounds from agro‐industrial by‐products

“…The results showed a potential prebiotic activity for the different fractions; furthermore, enzymatic extraction and POS with low DP arabinans and small amount or no free galacturonic acid resulted in a more efficient growth stimulation of lactic acid bacteria; moreover, the growth of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains was not stimulated. Chung et al (2017) confirmed that homogalacturonan OS from sugar beet pectin (DP 4-5) were used as a carbon source by Faecalibacterium prausnitzii strains. Interestingly, homogalacturonan OS promoted the production of IL-10, an antiinflammatory cytokine, showing the antiinflammatory potential of these oligosaccharides.…”

“…Chung et al () confirmed that homogalacturonan OS from sugar beet pectin (DP 4‐5) were used as a carbon source by Faecalibacterium prausnitzii strains. Interestingly, homogalacturonan OS promoted the production of IL‐10, an antiinflammatory cytokine, showing the antiinflammatory potential of these oligosaccharides.…”

“…Different studies have recognized nondigestible OS for its prebiotic activity (Chung et al, 2017;Moura, Macagnan, & Silva, 2015;Zhang, Hu, Wang, Liu, & Pan, 2018). The main beneficial effect of OS is focused on its effect on gut bacteria modulation.…”

Alterations in Gut Microbiota of Gestational Diabetes Patients During the First Trimester of Pregnancy

“…Most importantly, the pronounced reduction of Parabacteroides, Dialister, and Eubacterium eligens group had been previously observed in diagnosed GDM patients in comparison to healthy pregnant women (Kuang et al, 2017;Cortez et al, 2018), suggesting that changes in these bacteria were closely related to GDM, and occurred over time prior to the development of GDM, the potential pathological mechanism is worthy of further research utilizing sterile animal verification trials. Most of these bacteria, including Parabacteroides, Megasphaera, Ruminococcaceae UCG 005, Ruminococcaceae UCG 002, Eubacterium xylanophilum group and Eubacterium eligens group, could produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, propionate, and acetate (Chen et al, 2017;Chung et al, 2017;Gao et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2018bWang et al, , 2019Metzler-Zebeli et al, 2019), which could maintain normal physiological functioning of the intestines, regulate gut permeability, increase insulin sensitivity, and induce gut inflammatory responses that recede the development of diabetes (Vaarala et al, 2008). Additionally, the study provided a clear insight into the correlations between differential genera and maternal clinical indices, besides several reported associations (Guo et al, 2018;Wei et al, 2018), the others, especially the associations with blood pressure, blood lipids, dietary intake, liver and kidney functions, still need validation via continued research in this field.…”

Potential for enriching next-generation health-promoting gut bacteria through prebiotics and other dietary components

“…Pectin and pectic oligosaccharides (POS) have been identified as emerging prebiotics as evidenced through their selective utilization by certain members of the colonic microbiota such as E. eligens and F. prausnitzii. 12,82 The most frequent source of pectin is from citrus fruits and apple pulp, but it is also abundant in agricultural by-products such as sugar beet pulp. POS can be obtained through depolymerization of pectin and both pectin and POS escape host digestion and reach the distal colon when consumed.…”