Carbohydrate Staple Food Modulates Gut Microbiota of Mongolians in China

• Published in: Frontiers in microbiology Vol. 8; p. 484
• Main Authors: Li, Jing, Hou, Qiangchuan, Zhang, Jiachao, Xu, Haiyan, Sun, Zhihong, Menghe, Bilige, Zhang, Heping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 21.03.2017
• Subjects: Microbiology; carbohydrateutilization; shotgun-metagenomic-sequencing; Mongolians; intestinal microbiome; staple food
• ISSN: 1664-302X; 1664-302X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00484

Gut microbiota is a determining factor in human physiological functions and health. It is commonly accepted that diet has a major influence on the gut microbial community, however, the effects of diet is not fully understood. The typical Mongolian diet is characterized by high and frequent consumption of fermented dairy products and red meat, and low level of carbohydrates. In this study, the gut microbiota profile of 26 Mongolians whom consumed wheat, rice and oat as the sole carbohydrate staple food for a week each consecutively was determined. It was observed that changes in staple carbohydrate rapidly (within a week) altered gut microbial community structure and metabolic pathway of the subjects. Wheat and oat favored bifidobacteria ( ); whereas rice suppressed bifidobacteria ( ) and wheat suppresses and . The study exhibited two gut microbial clustering patterns with the preference of fucosyllactose utilization linking to fucosidase genes (glycoside hydrolase family classifications: GH95 and GH29) encoded by , and xylan and arabinoxylan utilization linking to xylanase and arabinoxylanase genes encoded by . There was also a correlation between and sialidase, as well as and xylanase/xylosidase. Meanwhile, a strong concordance was found between the gastrointestinal bacterial microbiome and the intestinal virome. Present research will contribute to understanding the impacts of the dietary carbohydrate on human gut microbiome, which will ultimately help understand relationships between dietary factor, microbial populations, and the health of global humans.