Prebiotics Mediate Microbial Interactions in a Consortium of the Infant Gut Microbiome

Abstract

Abstract:Composition of the gut microbiome is influenced by diet. Milk or formula oligosaccharides act as prebiotics, bioactives that promote the growth of beneficial gut microbes. The influence of prebiotics on microbial interactions is not well understood. Here we investigated the transformation of prebiotics by a consortium of four representative species of the infant gut microbiome, and how their interactions changed with dietary substrates. First, we optimized a culture medium resembling certain infant gut parameters. A consortium containing Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus was grown on fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or 2 -fucosyllactose (2FL) in mono-or co-culture. While Bi. infantis and Ba. vulgatus dominated growth on 2FL, their combined growth was reduced. Besides, interaction coefficients indicated strong competition, especially on FOS. While FOS was rapidly consumed by the consortium, B. infantis was the only microbe displaying significant consumption of 2FL. Acid production by the consortium resembled the metabolism of microorganisms dominating growth in each substrate. Finally, the consortium was tested in a bioreactor, observing similar predominance but more pronounced acid production and substrate consumption. This study indicates that the chemical nature of prebiotics modulate microbial interactions in a consortium of infant gut species.

Nutraceuticals as modulators of gut microbiota: Role in therapy

“…The lack of a consistent body of data indicating significant impacts of an administered probiotic on the microbiota (Chua et al, ; Kankainen et al, ; Kristensen et al, ; Medina, Pinto, Ovalle, Thomson, & Garrido, ) should not be taken as indicative of a lack of biological effects. Indeed, effects of an orally administered probiotic on the systemic immune system (Groeger et al, ; Konieczna, Akdis, Quigley, Shanahan, & O'Mahony, ) and on brain responses (Pinto‐Sanchez et al, ; Wang, Braun, Murphy, & Enck, ) have, indeed, been demonstrated in human studies.…”

“…The lack of a consistent body of data indicating significant impacts of an administered probiotic on the microbiota (Chua et al, 2017;Kankainen et al, 2009;Kristensen et al, 2016;Medina, Pinto, Ovalle, Thomson, & Garrido, 2017) should not be taken as indicative F I G U R E 2 Interactions between the microbiota, dietary components and host. (a) Health.…”

The honey bee gut microbiota: strategies for study and characterization

“…Location correlations can suggest the type of symbiosis between members of the microbiota, including whether these are mutualistic or competitive (Geva‐Zatorsky et al ., ). Visualization of colony clustering on its own can be strong evidence for the cooperation or exclusion of microbes (Geva‐Zatorsky et al ., ), but further assays to assess the negative or positive response of one species to another can help solidify understanding of these relationships (Portal‐Celhay and Blaser, ; Medina et al ., ) by determining how these characteristic microbiota are established and how they avoid colonization by foreign bacteria (Wong et al ., ; Kwong et al ., ). Changes in these correlations can be indicative of community health or disturbance.…”

Development of the Gut Microbiome in Children, and Lifetime Implications for Obesity and Cardiometabolic Disease

“…Microbiota preferentially digest dietary prebiotics, including fiber, which are not easily digestible by the host. In individuals consuming low-fiber diets, insufficient supply of prebiotics may prompt changes in microbiome composition and metabolism that affects host metabolism [158]. While this process is complex, and confounded by many variables influencing body weight and food choice, subtle differences in energy availability over time could be enough to shift individuals from a lean to an obesogenic phenotype [159,160].…”