The microbiota presents a compartmentalized distribution across different gut segments. Hence, the exogenous microbiota from a particular gut segment might only invade its homologous gut location during microbiota transplantation. Feces as the excreted residue contain most of the large-intestinal microbes but lack small-intestinal microbes. We speculated that whole-intestinal microbiota transplantation (WIMT), comprising jejunal, ileal, cecal, and colonic microbiota, would be more effective for reshaping the entire intestinal microbiota than conventional fecal microbiota transplantation fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). We modeled the compartmentalized colonization of the gut microbiota via transplanting the microbiota from jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon, respectively, into the germ-free mice. Transplanting jejunal or ileal microbiota induced more exogenous microbes’ colonization in the small intestine (SI) of germ-free mice rather than the large intestine (LI), primarily containing Proteobacteria, Lactobacillaceae, and Cyanobacteria. Conversely, more saccharolytic anaerobes from exogenous cecal or colonic microbiota, such as Bacteroidetes, Prevotellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae, established in the LI of germ-free mice that received corresponding intestinal segmented microbiota transplantation. Consistent compartmentalized colonization patterns of microbial functions in the intestine of germ-free mice were also observed. Genes related to nucleotide metabolism, genetic information processing, and replication and repair were primarily enriched in small-intestinal communities, whereas genes associated with the metabolism of essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, amino acids, cofactors, and vitamins were mainly enriched in large-intestinal communities of germ-free mice. Subsequently, we compared the difference in reshaping the community structure of germ-free mice between FMT and WIMT. FMT mainly transferred LI-derived microorganisms and gene functions into the recipient intestine with sparse SI-derived microbes successfully transplanted. However, WIMT introduced more SI-derived microbes and associated microbial functions to the recipient intestine than FMT. Besides, WIMT also improved intestinal morphological development as well as reduced systematic inflammation responses of recipients compared with FMT. Segmented exogenous microbiota transplantation proved the spatial heterogeneity of bacterial colonization along the gastrointestinal tract, i.e., the microbiota from one specific location selectively colonizes its homologous gut region. Given the lack of exogenous small-intestinal microbes during FMT, WIMT may be a promising alternative for conventional FMT to reconstitute the microbiota across the entire intestinal tract.

中文翻译：

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种间菌群移植后不同肠道段细菌定植的空间异质性

微生物群在不同的肠段上呈现出分区分布。因此，来自特定肠段的外源微生物群可能仅在微生物群移植过程中侵入其同源肠道位置。粪便作为排泄的残留物包含大多数大肠微生物，但缺乏小肠微生物。我们推测，包括空肠，回肠，盲肠和结肠微生物群在内的全肠道菌群移植（WIMT）比常规粪便微生物菌群移植粪便微生物菌群移植（FMT）能更有效地重塑整个肠道菌群。我们通过分别将空肠，回肠，盲肠和结肠中的菌群移植到无菌小鼠中，对肠道菌群的分区定居进行了建模。空肠或回肠微生物菌群的移植在无菌小鼠的小肠（SI）中而不是在主要包含变形杆菌，乳酸杆菌科和蓝细菌的大肠（LI）中诱导了更多的外源微生物定植。相反，来自外来盲肠或结肠微生物群的细菌糖化厌氧菌，如拟杆菌科，前鞭毛纲科，弓形螺旋菌科和Ruminococcaceae科，则建立在接受相应肠道分段微生物菌群移植的无菌小鼠的LI中。在无菌小鼠的肠道中，也观察到了微生物功能一致的分区定居模式。与核苷酸代谢，遗传信息处理以及复制和修复有关的基因主要集中在小肠群落中，而与必需营养素如碳水化合物，氨基酸，辅因子和维生素代谢相关的基因主要在无菌小鼠的大肠群落中富集。随后，我们比较了FMT和WIMT在重塑无菌小鼠的群落结构方面的差异。FMT主要将LI衍生的微生物和基因功能转移到受体肠中，并成功移植了稀疏的SI衍生的微生物。但是，相比FMT，WIMT向接受者肠道引入了更多的SI衍生微生物和相关的微生物功能。此外，与FMT相比，WIMT还改善了肠道的形态发育，并降低了受者的系统性炎症反应。分段的外源微生物群移植证明了细菌在胃肠道中定植的空间异质性，即，来自一个特定位置的微生物群选择性地定居在其同源肠道区域。鉴于FMT期间缺乏外源性小肠微生物，WIMT可能是常规FMT在整个肠道重构微生物群的有前途的替代方法。