Complex carbohydrate utilization by gut bacteria modulates host food consumption.

ABSTRACT: The gut microbiota interacts with dietary nutrients and can modify host feeding behavior, but underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Gut bacteria digest complex carbohydrates that the host cannot digest and liberate metabolites that serve as energy sources and signaling molecules. Here, we use a gnotobiotic mouse model to examine how gut bacterial fructose polysaccharide metabolism influences host intake of diets containing these carbohydrates. Two Bacteroides species ferment fructans with different glycosidic linkages: B. thetaiotaomicron ferments levan with β2-6 linkages, whereas B. ovatus ferments inulin with β2-1 linkages. We find that mice eat relatively more diet containing the carbohydrate that their gut bacteria cannot ferment compared to the fermentable ones: mice coloniz

SUBMITTER: Yu KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12462444 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature