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Detection of indigenous gut bacteria related to red chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum) in murine caecum and human faecal cultures

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Abstract

Background

Red chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum; RP) is a popular spice containing the active compound capsaicin. Indigenous gut bacteria and metabolism can affect host health. The functions of capsaicin, including the regulation of metabolic health and anti-oxidant properties, may be correlated with the gut microbiota.

Methods

To identify indigenous gut bacteria that are responsive to RP, Institute of Cancer Research mice fed a diet with no fibre or with 5% (w/w) RP for 14 days. Additionally, human stool samples collected from four healthy volunteers were incubated without (control) or with 2% (w/v) RP at 37 °C for 24 h. Microbiota in murine caecal samples and human faecal cultures were analysed using 16S rRNA (V4) amplicon sequencing.

Results

Compared with the microbiota in mice fed no-fibre diets, Lachnospiraceae spp.-, Muribaculaceae spp.-, and Phacaeicola vulgatus-like bacteria were defined as murine RP-responsive indigenous gut bacteria (RP-RIB). In the human faecal cultures, acetate and propionate levels were higher in RP cultures than in the control cultures. Subdoligranulum spp.-, Blautia spp.-, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii-, P. vulgatus-, and Prevotella copri-like bacteria were defined as human RP-RIB. Compared with control culture Fe-reducing power was increased in the culture with RP.

Conclusion

RP increases the amount of short-chain fatty acid–producing bacteria and beneficial gut bacteria in mouse and human faecal cultures. Overall, RP could have a positive effect on the host by altering the gut microbiota.

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Funding

This work was partially supported by the Yamazaki Spice Promotion Foundation, Tokyo, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 4-5-7 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8477, Japan

    Yumeng Xia, Gayang Lee, Mahiro Yamamoto, Hajime Takahashi & Takashi Kuda

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  1. Yumeng Xia
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  2. Gayang Lee
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  3. Mahiro Yamamoto
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  4. Hajime Takahashi
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  5. Takashi Kuda
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Contributions

YX: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Visualisation. GL: Investigation, Data curation, MY: Investigation, HT: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision. TK: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing—review & editing, Visualisation, Supervision, Project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takashi Kuda.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Animal Experiment Committee of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (Approval No. H31-5), and the Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology approved the study protocol (Approval no. R03-001).

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Xia, Y., Lee, G., Yamamoto, M. et al. Detection of indigenous gut bacteria related to red chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum) in murine caecum and human faecal cultures. Mol Biol Rep 49, 10239–10250 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07875-3

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