Section of Microbiology and Fermentation, Dept. of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Section of Experimental Animal Models, Dept. of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Gut Microbes. 2023 Jan-Dec;15(1):2208504. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2023.2208504.
Probiotics are intended to improve gastrointestinal health when consumed. However, the probiotics marketed today only colonize the densely populated gut to a limited extent. Bacteriophages comprise the majority of viruses in the human gut virome and there are strong indications that they play important roles in shaping the gut microbiome. Here, we investigate the use of fecal virome transplantation (FVT, sterile filtrated feces) as a mean to alter the gut microbiome composition to lead the way for persistent colonization of two types of probiotics: GG (LGG) representing a well-established probiotic and (AKM) representing a putative next-generation probiotic. Male and female C57BL/6NTac mice were cohoused in pairs from 4 weeks of age and received the following treatment by oral gavage at week 5 and 6: AKM+FVT, LGG+FVT, probiotic sham (Pro-sham)+FVT, LGG+Saline, AKM+Saline, and control (Pro-sham+Saline). The FVT donor material originated from mice with high relative abundance of . All animals were terminated at age 9 weeks. The FVT treatment did not increase the relative abundance of the administered LGG or AKM in the recipient mice. Instead FVT significantly ( < 0.05) increased the abundance of naturally occurring compared to the control. This highlights the potential of propagating the existing commensal "probiotics" that have already permanently colonized the gut. Being co-housed male and female, a fraction of the female mice became pregnant. Unexpectedly, the FVT treated mice were found to have a significantly ( < 0.05) higher fertility rate independent of probiotic administration. These preliminary observations urge for follow-up studies investigating interactions between the gut microbiome and fertility.
益生菌旨在改善食用时的胃肠道健康。然而,目前市场上的益生菌只能在很大程度上定植于人口稠密的肠道。噬菌体构成了人类肠道病毒组中的大多数病毒,有强烈的迹象表明它们在塑造肠道微生物组方面发挥着重要作用。在这里,我们研究了使用粪便病毒组移植(FVT,无菌过滤粪便)来改变肠道微生物组组成,为两种益生菌的持续定植开辟道路:GG(LGG)代表一种成熟的益生菌,AKM 代表一种潜在的下一代益生菌。雄性和雌性 C57BL/6NTac 小鼠从 4 周龄开始成对共饲养,并在第 5 和第 6 周通过口服灌胃接受以下治疗:AKM+FVT、LGG+FVT、益生菌假处理(Pro-sham)+FVT、LGG+盐水、AKM+盐水和对照(Pro-sham+盐水)。FVT 供体材料来自相对丰度高的 的小鼠。所有动物均在 9 周龄时处死。FVT 处理并未增加受者小鼠中给予的 LGG 或 AKM 的相对丰度。相反,FVT 显著(<0.05)增加了自然存在的 的丰度,与对照相比。这突显了传播已经永久定植于肠道的现有共生“益生菌”的潜力。由于雄性和雌性共饲养,一部分雌性小鼠怀孕了。出乎意料的是,FVT 处理的小鼠表现出更高的生育率,这与益生菌的给予无关。这些初步观察结果促使进行后续研究,以调查肠道微生物组与生育能力之间的相互作用。