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Undernutrition shifted colonic fermentation and digest-associated bacterial communities in pregnant ewes

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of undernutrition on colonic microbiota and fermentation in pregnant ewes. Sixteen ewes bearing multiple fetuses for 115 days in the control (CON) and severe feed restriction (SFR) groups were fed 100% and 30% level of ad libitum feed intake, respectively. After 15-day treatment, all ewes were sacrificed to collect colonic digesta samples to extract DNA for 16S rRNA sequencing and to detect fermentation parameters. Our data showed that SFR increased (P < 0.05) the levels of colonic propionate, isobutyrate, butyrate, isovalerate, and valerate, and slightly decreased (P < 0.1) colonic pH. The mole proportions of isobutyrate, butyrate, and isovalerate were increased (P < 0.05) upon SFR while that of acetate was decreased (P < 0.05). Hematoxylin-eosin staining sections exhibited the disorderly, irregular, and loose arrangement and part sloughing of colonic epithelial cells. Furthermore, SFR decreased (P < 0.05) the diversity of colonic microbiota and changed the microbial communities. At the genus level, SFR increased (P < 0.05) the abundance of unclassified Peptococcaceae and decreased (P < 0.05) the abundances of Ruminococcus, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, and unclassified VadinBB60. Additionally, the abundances of Ruminococcus and unclassified Ruminococcaceae were positively correlated (P < 0.05) with the acetate proportion while the abundance of unclassified Peptococcaceae was negatively correlated (P < 0.05) with the percentages of isobutyrate, butyrate, and isovalerate. In summary, SFR diminished the diversity of bacteria, affected the composition of bacterial communities, and finally changed the colonic fermentation pattern and epithelial histomorphology in pregnant ewes.

Key Points

• Undernutrition changed colonic bacterial diversity and composition in pregnant ewes.

• Microbial alteration affected colonic fermentation pattern and parameters.

• Alteration of colonic microbiota and fermentation damaged epithelium histomorphology.

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Funding

The present study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2016YFD0501200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Microbiology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Nutrition and Animal Health, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Yanfeng Xue, Fan Hu, Changzheng Guo, Shijun Mei, Fei Xie, Hongbo Zeng & Shengyong Mao

  2. National Center for International Research on Animal Gut Nutrition, National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Animal Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Yanfeng Xue, Fan Hu, Changzheng Guo, Shijun Mei, Fei Xie, Hongbo Zeng & Shengyong Mao

  3. College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, China

    Shengyong Mao

Authors
  1. Yanfeng Xue
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  2. Fan Hu
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  3. Changzheng Guo
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  4. Shijun Mei
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  5. Fei Xie
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  6. Hongbo Zeng
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  7. Shengyong Mao
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Contributions

The authors’ contributions are as follows: S. M. and Y. X. conceived and designed the study; Y. X., F. H., C. G., S. M., and H. Z. conducted the research; Y. X., F. X., and S. M. analyzed and interpreted the data; Y. X. wrote the manuscript; and S. M. revised the manuscript. The authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shengyong Mao.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All experimental procedures in this study were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Agricultural University (SYXK (Su) 2015–0656).

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Xue, Y., Hu, F., Guo, C. et al. Undernutrition shifted colonic fermentation and digest-associated bacterial communities in pregnant ewes. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 5973–5984 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10662-4

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