Background: The increasing incidence of cancer and intestinal mucositis induced by chemotherapeutics are causing worldwide concern. Many approaches such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) have been used to minimize mucositis. However, it is still unknown whether FMT from a donor with beneficial gut microbiota results in more effective intestinal function in the recipient. Recently, we found that alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) benefit murine gut microbiota through increasing "beneficial" microbes to rescue busulfan induced mucositis. Results: In the current investigation, FMT from AOS-dosed mice improved small intestine function over FMT from control mice through the recovery of gene expression and an increase in the levels of cell junction proteins. FMT from AOS-dosed mice showed superior benefits over FMT from control mice on recipient gut microbiotas through an increase in "beneficial" microbes such as Leuconostocaceae and recovery in blood metabolome. Furthermore, the correlation of gut microbiota and blood metabolites suggested that the "beneficial" microbe Lactobacillales helped with the recovery of blood metabolites, while the "harmful" microbe Mycoplasmatales did not. Conclusion: The data confirm our hypothesis that FMT from a donor with superior microbes leads to a more profound recovery of small intestinal function. We propose that gut microbiota from naturally produced AOS-treated donor may be used to prevent small intestinal mucositis induced by chemotherapeutics or other factors in recipients.

We found previously unknown neonatal ileum developmental potentials: specific increases in undifferentiated cells, unique enterocyte differentiation, and time dependent reduction in secretory cells. Specific transcriptional factors (TFs), ligand-receptor pairs, G protein-coupled receptors, transforming growth factor β, bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathways, and the gut mucosal microbiota are involved in this process.

The phenotypic variation of different organisms cannot be completely explained using Mendelian genetics which is inheritable based on DNA sequence (Richards, 2006). Epigenetics plays important roles in genetic variations which means except the change in DNA sequence, chromatin remodelling, DNA methylation, X chromosome inactivation and non-coding RNA regulation can also be stably transferred during cell proliferation, growth and development (Greally, 2018).Moreover, some epigenetic characteristics (such as DNA methylation) in certain germ cells can be inherited across generations (Rodgers et al., 2015). The gene expression patterns of offspring depend on their parents which is called genomic imprinting in mammals (Ferguson-smith, 2011). Epigenetic silencing of inactive alleles (such as DNA methylation) results in the differential allele expression (Xu et al., 2001). DNA methylation, as an epigenetic modification slowly coming into sight, is a process in which methyl is selectively added to cytosine by DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) to form 5-cytosine. Some evidence suggests DNA methylation can be inherited across generations through gametes (Daxinger & Whitelaw, 2012).