Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 29;12(1):13005. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17478-4.
In recent years, phytochemicals have started to attract more attention due to their contribution to health and bioactivity. Microorganisms in the intestines of organisms contribute to the processing, function, and biotransformation of these substances. The silkworm (Bombyx mori) is one of the organisms used for the biotransformation of phytochemicals due to its controlled reproduction and liability to microbial manipulation. In this study, a bioactive compound, tormentic acid (TA), extracted from Sarcopoterium spinosum was used in the silkworm diet, and the alterations of intestinal microbiota of the silkworm were assessed. To do this, silkworms were fed on a diet with various tormentic acid content, and 16S metagenomic analysis was performed to determine the alterations in the gut microbiota profile of these organisms. Diet with different TA content did not cause a change in the bacterial diversity of the samples. A more detailed comparison between different feeding groups indicated increased abundance of bacteria associated with health, i.e., Intestinibacter spp., Flavonifractor spp., Senegalimassilia spp., through the utilization of bioactive substances such as flavonoids. In conclusion, it might be said that using TA as a supplementary product might help ameliorate the infected gut, promote the healthy gut, and relieve the undesirable effects of medicines on the gastrointestinal system.
近年来，由于植物化学物质对健康和生物活性的贡献，它们开始引起更多的关注。生物体肠道中的微生物有助于这些物质的加工、功能和生物转化。由于蚕（Bombyx mori）可以进行受控繁殖和易于进行微生物操作，因此它是用于植物化学物质生物转化的生物体之一。在这项研究中，从沙棘中提取的一种生物活性化合物，即熊果酸（TA），被用于蚕的饮食中，并评估了蚕肠道微生物群的变化。为此，将蚕喂食含有不同熊果酸含量的饮食，并进行 16S 宏基因组分析，以确定这些生物体肠道微生物群谱的变化。不同 TA 含量的饮食不会引起样本中细菌多样性的变化。对不同喂养组之间的更详细比较表明，通过利用类黄酮等生物活性物质，与健康相关的细菌（如 Intestinibacter spp.、Flavonifractor spp.、Senegalimassilia spp.）的丰度增加。总之，可以说，将 TA 用作补充产品可能有助于改善感染的肠道，促进健康的肠道，并减轻药物对胃肠道系统的不良影响。
