Project description:Metagenome data from soil samples were collected at 0 to 10cm deep from 2 avocado orchards in Channybearup, Western Australia, in 2024. Amplicon sequence variant (ASV) tables were constructed based on the DADA2 pipeline with default parameters.
Project description:The consumption of fermented food has been linked to positive health outcomes due to a variety of functional properties. Fermented dairy constitutes a major dietary source and contains lactoseas main carbohydrate and living starter cultures. To investigate whether nutritional and microbial modulation impacted intestinal microbiota composition and activity, we employed fecal microbiota fermentations and a dairy model system consisting of lactose and β-galactosidase positive and negative Streptococcus thermophilus. Based on 16S rRNA gene based microbial community analysis, we observed that lactose addition increased the abundance of Bifidobacteriaceae, and of Veillonellaceae and Enterobacteraceae in selected samples. The supplied lactose was hydrolysed within 24 h of fermentation and led to higher expression of community indigenous β-galactosidases. Targeted protein analysis confirmed that bifidobacteria contributed most β-galactosidases together with other taxa including Escherichia coli and Anaerobutyricum hallii. Lactose addition led to 1.1-1.8 fold higher levels of butyrate compared to controls likely due to (i) lactate-crossfeeding and (ii) direct lactose metabolism by butyrate producing Anaerobutyricum and Faecalibacterium spp. Representatives of both genera used lactose to produce butyrate in single cultures. When supplemented at around 5.5 log cells mL-1, S. thermophilus or its beta-galactosidase negative mutant outnumbered the indigenous Streptococcaceae population at the beginning of fermentation but had no impact on lactose utilisation and final SCFA profiles. This study brings forward new fundamental insight into interactions of major constituents of fermented dairy with the intestinal microbiota. We provide evidence that lactose addition increases fecal microbiota production of butyrate through cross-feeding and direct metabolism without contribution of starter cultures.
Project description:Understanding how the human gut microbiota and host are impacted by probiotic bacterial strains requires carefully controlled studies in humans, and in mouse models of the gut ecosystem where potentially confounding variables that are difficult to control in humans can be constrained. Therefore, we characterized the fecal microbiomes and metatranscriptomes of adult female monozygotic twin pairs through repeated sampling 4 weeks prior to, 7 weeks during, and 4 weeks following consumption of a commercially-available fermented milk product (FMP) containing a consortium of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, two strains of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, and Streptococcus thermophilus. In addition, gnotobiotic mice harboring a 15-species model human gut microbiota whose genomes contain 58,399 known or predicted protein-coding genes were studied prior to and after gavage with all five sequenced FMP strains. 140 samples total. Evaluation of changes in a model community's structure over time after exposure to a consortium of 5 fermented milk product (FMP) strains.
Project description:The microbial community and enzymes in fermented rice using defined microbial starter, containing Rhizopus oryzae, Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pediococcus pentosaceus, play an important role in quality of the fermented rice product and its biological activities including melanogenesis inhibitory activity. The microbial metaproteome revealed large-scale proteins expressed by the microbial community to better understand the role of microbiota in the fermented rice.
Project description:Fermented dairy milks have been associated with many health benefits including the regulation of metabolic dysfunction. Different circulating clinical biomarkers have been used to explore the effect of fermented milks on metabolic health but the development of whole blood transcriptomics has recently been proposed as a source of novel biomarkers for this health outcome. In a randomised, cross-over study, we evaluate the changes in the whole blood transcriptome after the intake of a probiotic yoghurt compared to a milk acidified with gluconic acid in seven healthy young men. The effects of the dairy foods on whole blood gene expression were assessed at three time points during a 6 h postprandial test (800g single dose) and in the fasting state after a daily intake of the products over two-weeks (400g/d). RNA was extracted from Paxgene ® whole blood samples and sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq platform.