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

Karina Høgsgaard, Natalia P Vidal, Angeliki Marietou, Oliver Gam Fiehn, Qing Li, Julia Bechtner, Jacopo Catalano, Mario M Martinez, Clarissa Schwab*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberfiad107
JournalFEMS Microbiology Ecology
Volume99
Issue10
ISSN0168-6496
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2023

Keywords

  • cross-feeding
  • fermentation
  • fucose
  • gut microbiota

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