Abstract
Gut-derived neuroactive metabolites from amino acids perform a broad range of physiological roles in the body. However, the interaction between microbiota and epithelium in the metabolism of amino acids with neuroactive properties remains unclear in the colon of piglets. To investigate the microbial and epithelial metabolism, metagenomics and mucosal metabolomics were performed using colonic samples from 12 ileum-canulated piglets subjected to a 25-day infusion with saline or antibiotics. We categorized 23 metabolites derived from the metabolism of tryptophan, glutamate, and tyrosine, known as precursors of neuroactive metabolites. Microbial enzymes involved in the kynurenine synthesis via arylformamidase, 4-aminobutyric acid (GABA) synthesis via putrescine aminotransferase, and tyramine synthesis via tyrosine decarboxylase were identified in Clostridiales bacterium, uncultured Blautia sp., and Methanobrevibacter wolinii, respectively. Antibiotics significantly affected the microbiota involved in tryptophan–kynurenine and glutamate–GABA metabolism. An increase in the relative abundance of putrescine aminotransferase and Blautia sp. correlated positively with an increase in luminal GABA concentration. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the microbial ability to metabolize key amino acids that are precursors of neuroactive metabolites.
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Data availability
The assembly data from metagenomics sequencing have been deposited at NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database with the BioProject assession number PRJNA828385 (Sus scrofa (ID 828385)—BioProject—NCBI (nih.gov)).
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This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31902166, 32030104), and the Open Grant of State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding (2021GZ01).
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ZL performed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. WZ and CM designed this project. WZ and CM edited and revised the paper. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Liu, Z., Mu, C. & Zhu, W. Metagenomics-based inference of microbial metabolism towards neuroactive amino acids and the response to antibiotics in piglet colon. Amino Acids 55, 1333–1347 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-023-03311-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-023-03311-3