The art of targeting gut microbiota for tackling human obesity

Recently, a great deal of interest has been expressed regarding strategies to tackle worldwide obesity because of its accelerated wide spread accompanied with numerous negative effects on health and high costs. Obesity has been traditionally associated with an imbalance in energy consumed when compared to energy expenditure. However, growing...

Different human gut models reveal the distinct fermentation patterns of arabinoxylan versus inulin

Different in vitro models have been developed to assess how food compounds affect the human gut microbiota. Using two such models (SHIME(R) and TIM-2), we compared how long-chain arabinoxylan (LC-AX), a wheat-derived potentially prebiotic fiber, and inulin (IN), a well-established prebiotic compound, modulate SCFA production and bifidobacteria...

A Bifidobacterium mixed-species microarray for high resolution discrimination between intestinal bifidobacteria

A genomic DNA-based microarray was constructed containing over 6000 randomly cloned genomic fragments of approximately 1-2 kb from six mammalian intestinal Bifidobacterium spp. including B. adolescentis, B. animalis, B. bifidum, B. catenulatum, B. longum and B. pseudolongum. This Bifidobacterium Mixed-Species (BMS) microarray was used to...

Linking phylogenetic identities of bacteria to starch fermentation in an in vitro model of the large intestine by RNA-based stable isotope probing

Summary Carbohydrates, including starches, are an important energy source for humans, and are known for their interactions with the microbiota in the digestive tract. Largely, those interactions are thought to promote human health. Using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-based stable isotope probing (SIP), we identified starch-fermenting bacteria under...