Guts and Glory: the Effect of Nutrition and Host Genetics on the Gut Microbiota

The gut microbiota is complex ecosystem, which has a crucial role in maintaining the host well-being. Individual’s microbiome is influenced by diet, environmental factors and host`s genetics.

In a previous study, we found that acrolein (unsaturated aldehyde formed by thermal treatment of fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids) has a negative impact on gut microbiota in association with enhanced atherogenesis. Here, we studied the effect of Soy-oil (SO) and its major polyunsaturated fatty acid linoleic-acid (LA) enriched diet on the gut microbiota. C57BL/6J mice were fed with SO-based emulsion or equivalent levels of purified LA for 1 month. NG-Sequencing-based microbial profiling of fecal DNA revealed dramatic change in the gut microbiota following SO treatment, whereas LA supplementation did not changed the microbiota. Contrarily, both SO and LA fed mice showed increased levels of lipid peroxidation and triglyceride mass in aortas.

We also studied the effect of host genetics on the gut microbiota, using distinct mouse inbred lines (BALB/c, C57BL/6J) and their F1 reciprocal hybrids. We found different microbiome between the parental lines. F1 reciprocal hybrids presented similar microbiota, which was different from each of the parental. We also tested the environmental effects by cohabitation of the parental lines. We found that despite the shared environments and coprophagia, bacterial communities retained inbred-line specificity. These results indicate that the genetics has a major effect on the microbial composition in the murine gut.

Our results further support the role of host’s genetics in determining gut microflora. Discovering and understanding microorganisms associated with genetics and diet could lead to future development of genetically-oriented prebiotic and probiotic products, as part of the personalized medicine approach.