Characterization of Changes and Driver Microbes in Gut Microbiota During Healthy Aging Using A Captive Monkey Model

Recent population studies have significantly advanced our understanding of how age shapes the gut microbiota. However, the actual role of age could be inevitably confounded due to the complex and variable environmental factors in human populations. A well-controlled environment is thus necessary to reduce undesirable confounding effects, and recapitulate age-dependent changes in the gut microbiota of healthy primates. Herein we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing, characterized the age-associated gut microbial profiles from infant to elderly crab-eating macaques reared in captivity, and systemically revealed the lifelong dynamic changes of the primate gut microbiota. While the most significant age-associated taxa were mainly found as commensals such as Faecalibacterium, the abundance of a group of suspicious pathogens such as Helicobacter was exclusively increased in infants, underlining their potential role in host development. Importantly, topology analysis indicated that the network connectivity of gut microbiota was even more age-dependent than taxonomic diversity, and its tremendous decline with age could probably be linked to healthy aging. Moreover, we identified key driver microbes responsible for such age-dependent network changes, which were further linked to altered metabolic functions of lipids, carbohydrates, and amino acids, as well as phenotypes in the microbial community. The current study thus demonstrates the lifelong age-dependent changes and their driver microbes in the primate gut microbiota, and provides new insights into their roles in the development and healthy aging of their hosts.     

黑木耳子实体粉代替部分膳食对高脂模型小鼠营养性肥胖预防作用

本文旨在研究黑木耳粉代替部分膳食对模型小鼠预防营养性肥胖的作用功效。试验选择5周龄健康ICR雄性小鼠48只,随机分为正常对照组(CK)、高脂组(HFD)、阳性药物对照组(PD)和黑木耳粉添加组(AH)。连续饲喂9周,检测小鼠的各项生理生化指标。结果表明：与HFD组相比,AH组小鼠体重、附睾脂肪指数显著降低(P<0.05);Lee’s指数、血清葡萄糖(GLU)含量、甘油三酯(TG)含量和肝脏指数含量极显著降低(P<0.01),血清高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(HDL-C)和肝脏HDL-C含量极显著提高(P<0.01);染色结果观察到AH组小鼠肝脏中脂肪细胞减小,脂质含量降低;附睾脂肪体积减小,附睾细胞形状较规则。高通量测序分析发现,黑木耳粉干预有效改善了小鼠肠道中的变形菌门、螺杆菌属与拟杆菌属的相对丰度。研究结果表明黑木耳有显著预防小鼠营养性肥胖的功效,为黑木耳的开发利用提供依据。     

苏铁Cycas revoluta珊瑚根内生真菌的多样性

苏铁类植物是目前发现的唯一一类具有珊瑚根结构的裸子植物,是探究植物-微生物互作的理想材料。本研究通过高通量测序技术对中国13个地区栽培苏铁Cycas revoluta珊瑚根中的内生真菌组成及多样性进行分析,结果表明苏铁内生真菌多样性较高,但各地区间内生真菌的组成及多样性差异不显著,显示苏铁和珊瑚根内生真菌的共生与栽培地无关。     

Machine learning-based investigation of the relationship between gut microbiome and obesity status

Gut microbiota is believed to play a crucial role in obesity. However, the consistent findings among published studies regarding microbiome–obesity interaction are relatively rare, and one of the underlying causes could be the limited sample size of cohort studies. In order to identify gut microbiota changes between normal-weight individuals and obese individuals, fecal samples along with phenotype information from 2262 Chinese individuals were collected and analyzed. Compared with normal-weight individuals, the obese individuals exhibit lower diversity of species and higher diversity of metabolic pathways. In addition, various machine learning models were employed to quantify the relationship between obesity status and Body mass index (BMI) values, of which support vector machine model achieves best performance with 0.716 classification accuracy and 0.485 R² score. In addition to two well-established obesity-associated species, three species that have potential to be obesity-related biomarkers, including Bacteroides caccae, Odoribacter splanchnicus and Roseburia hominis were identified. Further analyses of functional pathways also reveal some enriched pathways in obese individuals. Collectively, our data demonstrates tight relationship between obesity and gut microbiota in a large-scale Chinese population. These findings may provide potential targets for the prevention and treatment of obesity.     

Fecal microbiota transplantation from young donor mice improves ovarian function in aged mice

Advanced maternal age is characterized by declines in the quantity and quality of oocytes in the ovaries, and the aging process is accompanied by changes in gut microbiota composition. However, little is known about the relationship between gut microbiota and ovarian aging. By using fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to transplant material from young (5-week-old) into aged (42-week-old) mice, we find that the composition of gut microbiota in FMT-treated mice presents a “younger-like phenotype” and an increase of commensal bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium and Ruminococcaceae. Moreover, the FMT-treated mice show increased anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ. Fertility tests for assessing ovarian function reveal that the first litter size of female FMT-treated mice is significantly higher than that of the non-FMT group. Morphology analysis demonstrates a dramatic decrease in follicle atresia and apoptosis as well as an increase in cellular proliferation in the ovaries of the FMT-treated mice. Our results also show that FMT improves the immune microenvironment in aged ovaries, with decreased macrophages and macrophage-derived multinucleated giant cells (MNGCs). These results suggest that FMT from young donors could be a good choice for delaying ovarian aging.     

Pixel by pixel: real-time observation and quantification of passive flotation speeds of three common equine endoparasite egg types

The efficacy of anthelmintic treatments against populations of endoparasites infecting livestock throughout the world is decreasing. To mitigate this, the use of fecal egg counts is recommended to determine both the necessity, and to ensure the appropriate choice, of anthelmintic treatment. Traditionally, and in order to facilitate easier identification and/or enumeration, samples are analysed after separating eggs from other fecal particulates by exposing them to a solution with a density higher than that of the eggs, but lower than the remaining fecal contents. While many parasite egg flotation protocols exist, little is known about the characteristics of these eggs with respect to their movement through a flotation solution. In this study, we have demonstrated a novel method for the observation and quantification of microscopic (65–100 µm) objects as they experience unassisted flotation. This also represents, to our knowledge for the first time, that the flotation of parasite eggs has been observed and their movement characteristics quantified as they float through solution. Particle tracking and video analysis software were utilised to automatically detect and track the movement of individual eggs as they floated. Three 30 s videos and one 2 min video of each egg type were analysed. If the first 30 s of video were discounted, the differences in mean flotation speed among all videos was statistically significant between egg types (P = 0.0004). Strongyle type eggs (n = 201) moved the fastest with a mean 51.08 µm/s (95% confidence interval: 47.54–54.62). This was followed by Parascaris spp. (n = 131) and Anoplocephala perfoliata eggs (n = 322), with mean speeds of 44.43 µm/s (95% confidence interval: 39.47–49.4) and 31.11 µm/s (95% confidence interval: 29.6–32.61), respectively. This method for evaluating the mean speed of passive flotation may represent a first step towards further optimizing fecal egg flotation and be of interest to parasitologists and veterinary practitioners.     

微生物介导反刍动物瘤胃氨生成及其对瘤胃功能的影响

反刍动物瘤胃中栖息着丰富多样的微生物,其在瘤胃内氨生成过程中发挥了重要的作用。微生物介导的氨基酸脱氨基作用和非蛋白氮水解作用是瘤胃内氨生成的主要途径。微生物介导了瘤胃内氨的生成,同时瘤胃内产生的氨也会反馈影响微生物菌群结构及瘤胃上皮功能,进而影响瘤胃发酵及宿主健康。本文主要综述了瘤胃微生物在介导氨生成中的作用和氨对瘤胃消化及瘤胃上皮功能的影响,以期对后续研究有所启发。     

鄱阳湖越冬白鹤在农业用地的食物组成

白鹤(Grus leucogeranus)是IUCN极危物种,全球仅存3 500～4 000只,其中约98%的个体在鄱阳湖越冬。以前白鹤在鄱阳湖主要在浅水生境挖掘苦草(Vallisneria spp.)的冬芽为食。然而,近年来农业用地已成为白鹤的重要觅食地。目前对于白鹤在农业用地的食物组成尚不清楚。本研究采用粪便显微镜检法对2017年11月至2018年4月采集的70份白鹤粪便样品进行分析。结果表明,白鹤的食物来源于10科15种植物,其中,水稻(Oryza sativa)、莲藕(Nelumbo nucifera)和紫云英(Astragalus sinicus)为最主要的食物,这3种植物在检测到的食物中的相对密度分别为34.34%、22.99%和10.61%,而白鹤的传统食物苦草冬芽所占的比例极低(2.05%)。由此可见,白鹤的食物组成已经发生变化,农作物已成为白鹤的重要食物来源。白鹤在农业用地中觅食使该物种的保护面临一系列问题,尤其是高强度的人为干扰,对此,提出了相应的保护措施,希望为白鹤提供安全、稳定的觅食环境。     

Mulberry juice freeze-dried powder attenuates the disease severity by the maintaining of colon mucosa in mice with DSS-induced acute colitis

This study aimed to evaluate the microbial compositions and gene expression related to inflammation in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced acute colitis and the effect of mulberry supplementation. Male BALB/c mice received a diet supplemented with mulberry juice freeze-dried powder (MFP) or not for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, the mice received water containing 5% (w/v) DSS or not for 1 week. The disease activity index score in mice fed MFP was significantly decreased. A significant decrease in Bifidobacterium spp. and the Clostridium perfringens subgroup was observed in mice not fed MFP. The number of goblet cell and NLRP6 expression were observed in mice fed a diet supplemented with MFP compared with mice not fed MFP. These results may indicate that mulberry mitigates DSS-induced acute colitis by a changing the gut microbial flora and by improving mucosal conditions.