Fucose modifies short chain fatty acid and H2S formation through alterations of microbial cross-feeding activities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fucose modifies short chain fatty acid and H2S formation through alterations of microbial cross-feeding activities

AU - Høgsgaard, Karina

AU - Vidal, Natalia P

AU - Marietou, Angeliki

AU - Fiehn, Oliver Gam

AU - Li, Qing

AU - Bechtner, Julia

AU - Catalano, Jacopo

AU - Martinez, Mario M

AU - Schwab, Clarissa

N1 - © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.

PY - 2023/10/1

Y1 - 2023/10/1

N2 - Algae are a rich but unexplored source of fibers with the potential to contribute to the next generation of prebiotics. The sulfated brown algae polysaccharide, fucoidan, is mainly composed of the deoxy-hexose L-fucose, which can be metabolized to 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) or lactate by gut microbes as precursors of propionate and butyrate. It was the aim of this study to investigate the impact of fucoidan on the fermentation capacity of the fecal microbiota and to compare to fucose. In batch fermentations of fecal microbiota collected from 17 donor samples, fucose promoted the production of propionate while no consistent effect was observed for commercial fucoidan and Fucus vesiculosus extract prepared in this study containing laminarin and fucoidan. H 2S production was detected under all tested conditions, and levels were significantly lower in the presence of fucose in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of high fucose levels led to higher relative abundance of microbial 1,2-PD and lactate cross-feeders. Our results highlight that fucose and not fucoidan addition impacted fermentation capacity and increased the proportions of propionate and butyrate, which allows for precise modulation of intestinal microbiota activity.

AB - Algae are a rich but unexplored source of fibers with the potential to contribute to the next generation of prebiotics. The sulfated brown algae polysaccharide, fucoidan, is mainly composed of the deoxy-hexose L-fucose, which can be metabolized to 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) or lactate by gut microbes as precursors of propionate and butyrate. It was the aim of this study to investigate the impact of fucoidan on the fermentation capacity of the fecal microbiota and to compare to fucose. In batch fermentations of fecal microbiota collected from 17 donor samples, fucose promoted the production of propionate while no consistent effect was observed for commercial fucoidan and Fucus vesiculosus extract prepared in this study containing laminarin and fucoidan. H 2S production was detected under all tested conditions, and levels were significantly lower in the presence of fucose in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of high fucose levels led to higher relative abundance of microbial 1,2-PD and lactate cross-feeders. Our results highlight that fucose and not fucoidan addition impacted fermentation capacity and increased the proportions of propionate and butyrate, which allows for precise modulation of intestinal microbiota activity.

KW - cross-feeding

KW - fermentation

KW - fucose

KW - gut microbiota

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175007732&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/femsec/fiad107

DO - 10.1093/femsec/fiad107

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37777844

SN - 0168-6496

VL - 99

JO - FEMS Microbiology Ecology

JF - FEMS Microbiology Ecology

IS - 10

M1 - fiad107

ER -