Institute for Prevention and Cancer Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Aug 14;24(16):12796. doi: 10.3390/ijms241612796.
Prebiotics are believed to exhibit high specificity in stimulating the growth or activity of a limited number of commensal microorganisms, thereby conferring health benefits to the host. However, the mechanism of action of prebiotics depends on multiple factors, including the composition of an individual's gut microbiota, and is therefore difficult to predict. It is known that different bacteria can utilize inulin and xylooligosaccharides (XOS), but an overview of which bacteria in the human gut may be affected is lacking. Detailed knowledge of how bacterial growth is affected by prebiotics is furthermore useful for the development of new synbiotics, which combine a living microorganism with a selective substrate to confer a health benefit to the host. Hence, we developed a statistical model to compare growth in vitro among typical human gut bacteria from different phylogenetic lineages. Based on continuous observation of the optical density (OD), we compare maximal growth rates (r), maximal attained OD (OD), and area under the growth curve (AUC) of bacteria grown on inulin or XOS. The consideration of these three parameters suggests strain-specific preferences for inulin or XOS and reveals previously unknown preferences such as growth on XOS.
益生元被认为具有高度特异性，能够刺激有限数量的共生微生物的生长或活性，从而为宿主带来健康益处。然而，益生元的作用机制取决于多个因素，包括个体肠道微生物群的组成，因此难以预测。已知不同的细菌可以利用菊粉和木低聚糖（XOS），但缺乏对哪些肠道细菌可能受到影响的概述。详细了解益生元如何影响细菌的生长对于开发新的合生元（将活微生物与选择性底物结合以赋予宿主健康益处）非常有用。因此，我们开发了一种统计模型来比较不同进化枝的典型人类肠道细菌的体外生长情况。基于对光密度（OD）的连续观察，我们比较了在菊粉或 XOS 上生长的细菌的最大生长速率（r）、最大达到的 OD（OD）和生长曲线下的面积（AUC）。考虑这三个参数表明了对菊粉或 XOS 的菌株特异性偏好，并揭示了以前未知的偏好，例如 XOS 上的生长。
