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Dietary fibres modulate the composition and activity of butyrate-producing bacteria in the large intestine of suckling piglets

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Abstract

Dietary fibres have been shown to affect early-life microbiota colonization in the large intestine of suckling piglets, however, much less is known as to whether they also modulate the composition and activity of butyrate-producing bacteria. Here, we investigated the effect of dietary fibres on the abundance, composition, and activity of butyrate-producing bacteria in suckling piglets. Piglets were fed a control diet or creep feeds containing alfalfa, wheat bran, or pure cellulose, respectively, from postnatal day 7 to 22. Large intestinal digesta and mucosa samples were collected for quantitative analysis of bacterial group-specific 16S ribosomal RNA- and butyrate production-related genes, and digesta samples for quantification of short-chain fatty acids. The alfalfa diet increased (P < 0.05) Clostridium cluster XIVa abundance, copies of genes encoding proteins involved in butyrate production (butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase, butyrate kinase), and butyrate concentration compared to the wheat bran diet in the digesta of the proximal colon. In the distal colonic digesta, animals fed the alfalfa diet had the highest number of butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene copies (P < 0.05) and numerically the highest butyrate concentration, albeit not significant (P > 0.05), compared to other groups. In the distal colonic mucosa, the cellulose diet increased (P < 0.05) the abundance of Clostridium cluster XIVa and copies of the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene compared to the alfalfa diet. These results indicated that dietary fibres modulate the abundance and activity of butyrate-producing bacteria in the large intestine of suckling piglets, and that a moderate supplementation of alfalfa and cellulose may benefit early-life gut health through the delivery of butyrate to the mucosa.

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Acknowledgements

The work was partly supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31430082), China-EU project (1008) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, KNAW (09CDP006). We furthermore would like to thank the European Framework Programme 7 for support through project “INTERPLAY” (Project No. 227549).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Nutrition and Animal Health, Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Microbiology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, No. 6, Tongwei Road, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu, China

    Chunlong Mu, Lingli Zhang, Xiangyu He & Weiyun Zhu

  2. Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Stippeneng 4. 6708 WE, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Hauke Smidt

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  1. Chunlong Mu
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  2. Lingli Zhang
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  4. Hauke Smidt
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Correspondence to Weiyun Zhu.

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The authors declare no competing financial interest. All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Mu, C., Zhang, L., He, X. et al. Dietary fibres modulate the composition and activity of butyrate-producing bacteria in the large intestine of suckling piglets. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 110, 687–696 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-017-0836-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-017-0836-4

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