Metagenomic Analysis Reveals New Microbiota Related to Fiber Digestion in Pigs

Abstract

Making full use of high fiber and low-cost crop coproducts is helpful to alleviate the situation of people and livestock competing for crops. Digestion of dietary fibers in pigs is mainly through microbial fermentation in the large intestine. To reveal microbiota related to fiber digestion in pigs, fecal samples have been collected from 274 healthy female Suhuai pigs at 160 days of age under the same feeding conditions and have measured apparent neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibility. Samples from Suhuai pigs with extreme high and low apparent NDF digestibility and extreme high and low apparent ADF digestibility were subjected to shotgun metagenomic sequencing. At the species level, 62 microbial species in H_NDF group and 54 microbial species in H_ADF group were related to high fiber digestibility. Among them, Lachnospiraceae bacterium 3-1 and Alistipes sp. CAG:514 may be new types of microorganisms associated with fiber digestion. In addition, we found that more abundant GH5 and GH48 family (contribute to cellulose degradation) genes, GH39 and GH53 family (contribute to hemicellulose degradation) genes in microorganisms may contribute to the higher apparent NDF digestibility of pigs, and more abundant GH3 and GH9 family (contribute to cellulose degradation) genes in microorganisms may contribute to the higher apparent ADF digestibility of pigs. The abundance of AA4 family (helps in lignin degradation) genes in H_NDF and H_ADF groups was significantly higher than that in L_NDF and L_ADF groups, respectively (P < 0.05). Three pathways in H_NDF group and four pathways in H_ADF group are important pathways associated with degradation of non-starch polysaccharides, and their relative abundance is significantly higher than that in L_NDF and L_ADF groups, respectively. Gut microbiota of Suhuai pigs with high apparent fiber digestibility had higher abundance of genes and microbiota related to fiber digestion and may have stronger fiber digestion potential compared with low apparent fiber digestibility group. This study revealed that the characteristics of gut microbiota and microbial gene functions of pigs with high fiber apparent digestibility, which provided a theoretical basis and reference for further understanding the impact of gut microbiota on fiber digestibility of pigs.

Colonic Microbiota Improves Fiber Digestion Ability and Enhances Absorption of SCFAs in Hainan Local Pigs

“…Previous studies have shown that the composition of gut microbes is regulated by the genetic factors of the host [30]. The results showed that Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phylum in all four groups, which is consistent with the previous researches [31,32]. Bacteroidetes are the most dominant phylum in the rumen of ruminants, and they can encode a large number of cellulases to digest dietary ber, and we found that the proportion of Bacteroidetes in Ding'an pigs was higher than that in DLY pigs [33].…”

Recipient microbiome-related features predicting metabolic improvement following fecal microbiota transplantation in adults with severe obesity and metabolic syndrome: a secondary analysis of a phase 2 clinical trial

“…Figure S2a demonstrates the variations in the initial number of fecal ASVs among recipients during the intervention, with no obvious distinction between responders and non-responders (Figure S2b). Nevertheless, upon conducting a comparison of individual ASVs, we noted that after six weeks of treatment, the non-responders exhibited significant reductions in the presence of three ASVs, including a fat-utilizing species Alistipes finegoldii 26 (ASV84), and two fiber-degrading species Ruminococcus callidus 27 (ASV143) and Bacteroides intestinalis 28 (ASV148) (Figure S2B). The significant removal of these ASVs from non-responders but not from responders suggests that these ASVs may have a beneficial effect on the metabolic status of the patient and that their disappearance may be associated with the lack of insulin sensitivity improvement observed in non-responders.…”

Effects of microalgae, with or without xylanase supplementation, on serum immunoglobulins, cecal short-chain fatty acids, microbial diversity, and metabolic pathways of broiler chickens

“…This result is similar to the findings of a previous study ( Park et al, 2018 ). Although the changes were small, the MAG group has a significant increase in the methylpentosum group of Clostridium, which helps in the utilization of 2 methylpentoses (L-rhamnose and L-fucose) and 2 pentoses (L-xylose and D-arabinose) ( Liu et al, 2021a ). As discussed earlier, the presence of a higher number of beneficial bacteria might be due to the prebiotic properties of microalgae.…”