• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.898-906
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to investigate differences in the faecal microbial composition among Lantang, Bama, Erhualian, Meishan, Xiaomeishan, Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire sows and to explore the possible link of the pig breed with the gut microbial community. Among the sows, the Meishan, Landrace, Duroc, and Yorkshire sows were from the same breeding farm with the same feed. Fresh faeces were collected from three sows of each purebred breed for microbiota analysis and volatile fatty acid (VFA) determination. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that samples from Bama, Erhualian, and Xiaomeishan sows, which from different farms, were generally grouped in one cluster, with similarity higher than 67.2%, and those from Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire sows were grouped in another cluster. Principal component analysis of the DGGE profile showed that samples from the foreign breeds and the samples from the Chinese indigenous breeds were scattered in two different groups, irrespective of the farm origin. Faecal VFA concentrations were significantly affected by the pig breed. The proportion of acetate was higher in the Bama sows than in the other breeds. The real-time PCR analysis showed that 16S rRNA gene copies of total bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were significantly higher in the Bama sows compared to Xiaomeishan and Duroc sows. Both Meishan and Erhualian sows had higher numbers of total bacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and sulphate-reducing bacteria as compared to Duroc sows. The results suggest that the pig breed affects the composition of gut microbiota. The microbial composition is different with different breeds, especially between overseas breeds (lean type) and Chinese breeds (relatively obese type).

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2010

BT toxin is produced by a soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and has long been used as a biological insecticide without any competition. Recently, Photorhabdus, a symbiotic bacterium from entomopathogenic nematodes, family Heterorhabditae, has been researched and discussed as alternatives to B. thuringiensis. Photorhabdus, which lives in the gut of entomopathogenic nematodes, is a highly virulent pathogen of a wide range of insect larvae. When an insect is infected by the nematodes, the bacteria are released into the cadaver, and produce a number of insecticidal toxins. The biological role of the different Photorhabdus toxins in the infection process is still unclear. Photorhabdus toxin complex (Tc) is highly secreted gut-active toxin and has been characterized as a potent three-component (A, B and C) insecticidal protein complex. These components are necessary for full oral activity against insect larvae. The Photorhabdus PirAB binary toxins exhibit a potent injectable activity for Galleria mellonella larvae, and have oral toxicity against mosquitoes and caterpillar pest Plutella xylostella. Other toxin, 'makes caterpillars floppy' (Mcf) showed injectable activity on caterpillars. Recombinant Mcf triggers apoptosis in both insect hemocytes and the midgut epithelium and carries a BH3 domain. In this review, the relationship between the Photorhabdus and the nematode is discussed and recent important insecticidal toxins from Photorhabdus are described.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2016

The intestinal environment plays a critical role in maintaining swine health. Many factors such as diet, microbiota, and host intestinal immune response influence the intestinal environment. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an important apical brush border enzyme that is influenced by these factors. IAP dephosphorylates bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), unmethylated cytosine-guanosine dinucleotides, and flagellin, reducing bacterial toxicity and consequently regulating toll-like receptors (TLRs) activation and inflammation. It also desphosphorylates extracellular nucleotides such as uridine diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate, consequently reducing inflammation, modulating, and preserving the homeostasis of the intestinal microbiota. The apical localization of IAP on the epithelial surface reveals its role on LPS (from luminal bacteria) detoxification. As the expression of IAP is reported to be downregulated in piglets at weaning, LPS from commensal and pathogenic gram-negative bacteria could increase inflammatory processes by TLR-4 activation, increasing diarrhea events during this phase. Although some studies had reported potential IAP roles to promote gut health, investigations about exogenous IAP effects or feed additives modulating IAP expression and activity yet are necessary. However, we discussed in this paper that the critical assessment reported can suggest that exogenous IAP or feed additives that could increase its expression could show beneficial effects to reduce diarrhea events during the post weaning phase. Therefore, the main goals of this review are to discuss IAP's role in intestinal inflammatory processes and present feed additives used as growth promoters that may modulate IAP expression and activity to promote gut health in piglets.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.421-429
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of intestinal bacteria on the growth of enteric bacteria, especially infectious harmful bacteria such as food poisoning, gastritis and enteritis, and the growth of beneficial bacteria. By dividing the rat into three test groups; normal control group, Loperamide-treated group, and supercritical heat-treated radish complex extracts(HRE)-treated group, animal experiments were performed to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria without affecting the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestine. It was found that it can be usefully used as an effective and safe health food composition for improving intestinal function and bacterial intestinal disease. In particular, it can be concluded that supercritical heat-treated radish complex extract is a safe food that does not show any side effects even when taken for a long time.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2021

Recent gut microbiota studies have revealed the important roles of gut microbiota for our health. Increasing numbers of health functional foods have been developed every year. Development of functional food often includes ex- and in-vivo experiment to verify the beneficial effects of the functional food. To investigate effects of functional food on gut microbiota, animal models were often conducted. Beneficial effects of food can be evaluated based on how gut microbiota was shifted by food, which results in either increase in beneficial bacteria, decrease in potentially pathogenic bacteria or both. As animal experiments are generally time-consuming and laborious, we investigate how well in-vitro investigation of fecal microbiota may reflect dietary health benefits. Here, we tested 15 kinds of diets using two human subjects' fecal materials. Our results showed varying gut microbiota shifts according to diets, which suggested generally known beneficial diets (i.e. Kimchi, Chunggukjang) increased Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Therefore, we suggest that in vitro fecal microbiota analysis could be used to evaluate beneficial effects of diets. Moreover, this method may be ideal to establish personalized diet.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.976-986
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• 2018

Knowledge about the gut bacterial communities associated with insects is essential to understand their roles in the physiology of the host. In the present study, the gut bacterial communities of a laboratory-reared insecticide-susceptible (IS), and a field-collected insecticide-resistant (IR) population of a major rice pest, the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens, were evaluated. The deep-sequencing analysis of the V3 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed using Illumina and the sequence data were processed using QIIME. The toxicological bioassays showed that compared with the IS population, IR population exhibited 7.9-, 6.7-, 14.8-, and 18.7-fold resistance to acephate, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, and buprofezin, respectively. The analysis of the alpha diversity indicated a higher bacterial diversity and richness associated with the IR population. The dominant phylum in the IS population was Proteobacteria (99.86%), whereas the IR population consisted of Firmicutes (46.06%), followed by Bacteroidetes (30.8%) and Proteobacteria (15.49%). Morganella, Weissella, and Enterococcus were among the genera shared between the two populations and might form the core bacteria associated with N. lugens. The taxonomic-to-phenotypic mapping revealed the presence of ammonia oxidizers, nitrogen fixers, sulfur oxidizers and reducers, xylan degraders, and aromatic hydrocarbon degraders in the metagenome of N. lugens. Interestingly, the IR population was found to be enriched with bacteria involved in detoxification functions. The results obtained in this study provide a basis for future studies elucidating the roles of the gut bacteria in the insecticide resistance-associated symbiotic relationship and on the design of novel strategies for the management of N. lugens.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.299-308
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• 2024

Proteins in whey have prebiotic and antimicrobial properties. Whey protein comprises numerous bioactive proteins and peptides, including glycomacropeptide (GMP), a hydrophilic casein peptide that separates with the whey fraction during cheese making. GMP has traditionally been used as a protein source for individuals with phenylketonuria and also has prebiotic (supporting the growth of Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria) and antimicrobial activities. GMP supplementation may help positively modulate the gut microbiome, help treat dysbiosis-related gastrointestinal disorders and improve overall health in consumers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.687-695
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• 2015

Accumulating evidence indicates that lactic acid bacteria could improve host physiology and lipid metabolism. To investigate the effect of the gut microbiota on host lipid metabolism, a hyperlipidemic rat model was established by feeding rats a high-fat diet for 28 days, and the gut microbiota of the rats was analyzed using real-time PCR before and after administration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus hsryfm 1301 and its fermented milk for 28 days. The findings showed that the Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., Bacteroides spp., and Enterococcus spp. content in the hyperlipidemic rats gut was increased significantly (p < 0.05), while the Clostridium leptum and Enterobacter spp. content was decreased significantly after intervening with L. rhamnosus hrsyfm 1301 and its fermented milk for 28 days (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the lipid levels of the serum and the liver were decreased significantly (p < 0.05) and the fecal water content was increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the hyperlipidemic rats after the intervention, and hepatocyte fatty degeneration of liver tissues was also prevented. A positive correlation was observed between the Clostridium leptum content and the level of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein, and a negative correlation was observed between the Enterobacter spp. content and the Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. content in the hyperlipidemic rats gut. These results suggest that the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism of hyperlipidemic rats could be improved by supplementation with L. rhamnosus hsryfm 1301 and its fermented milk.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.369-375
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• 2015

Meat from black pigs (BP) is in high demand compared with that from modern white pig (WP) breeds such as Landrace pigs owing to its high quality. However, the growth rate of black pigs is slower than that of white pig breeds. We investigated differences in the fecal microbial composition between white and black pigs to explore whether these breeds differed in the composition of their gut microbial communities. The swine gut microbiota was investigated using Illumina's MiSeq-based sequencing technology by targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results showed that the composition of the gut microbiota was significantly different between the two pig breeds. While the composition of the WP microbiota shifted according to the growth stage, fewer shifts in composition were observed for the BP gut microbiota. In addition, the WP gut microbiota showed a higher Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio compared with that of BP. A high ratio between these phyla was previously reported as an obesity-linked microbiota composition. Moreover, the WP microbiota contained a significantly higher abundance of cellulolytic bacteria, suggesting a possibility of higher fiber digestion efficiency in WP compared to BP. These findings may be important factors affecting growth performance and energy-harvesting capacities in pigs. Our findings of differences in the gut microbiota composition between the two breeds may provide new leads to understand growth rate variation across pig breeds.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.104-110
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• 2013

Presence of Helicobacter pylori is associated with an increased risk of developing upper gastrointestinal tract diseases. Antibiotic therapy and a combination of two or three drugs have been widely used to eradicate H. pylori infections. Due to antibiotic resistant drugs, new drug resources are needed such as plants which contain antibacterial compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of GutGard$^{TM}$ to inhibit H. pylori growth both in Mongolian gerbils and C57BL/6 mouse models. Male Mongolian gerbils were infected with the bacteria by intragastric inoculation ($2{\times}10^9$ CFU/gerbil) 3 times over 5 days and then orally treated once daily 6 times/week for 8 weeks with 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg GutGard$^{TM}$. After the final administration, biopsy samples of the gastric mucosa were assayed for bacterial identification via urease, catalase and ELISA assays as well as immunohistochemistry (IHC). In the Mongolian gerbil model, IHC and ELISA assays revealed that GutGard$^{TM}$ inhibited H. pylori colonization in gastric mucosa in a dose dependent manner. The anti-H. pylori effects of GutGard$^{TM}$ in H. pylori-infected C57BL/6 mice were also examined. We found that treatment with 25 mg/kg GutGard$^{TM}$ significantly reduced H. pylori colonization in mice gastric mucosa. Our results suggest that GutGard$^{TM}$ may be useful as an agent to prevent H. pylori infection.