Simplified Intestinal Microbiota to Study Microbe-Diet-Host Interactions in a Mouse Model.

ABSTRACT: The gut microbiota can modulate human metabolism through interactions with macronutrients. However, microbiota-diet-host interactions are difficult to study because bacteria interact in complex food webs in concert with the host, and many of the bacteria are not yet characterized. To reduce the complexity, we colonize mice with a simplified intestinal microbiota (SIM) composed of ten sequenced strains isolated from the human gut with complementing pathways to metabolize dietary fibers. We feed the SIM mice one of three diets (chow [fiber rich], high-fat/high-sucrose, or zero-fat/high-sucrose diets [both low in fiber]) and investigate (1) how dietary fiber, saturated fat, and sucrose affect the abundance and transcriptome of the SIM community, (2) the effect of microbe-diet interactions on

SUBMITTER: Kovatcheva-Datchary P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6444000 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature