University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists are mapping the relationship between gut microbiota and metabolic traits in mice, another key step in understanding the mysteries of the human gastrointestinal system.
This research, led by UNL animal scientist Daniel Ciobanu, is part of the university’s Gut Function Initiative and recently was the subject of an article by Ciobanu and others in the journal PLoS One.
Humans begin life with a sterile gastrointestinal tract, which comprises the small and large intestines. But microorganisms begin to take up residence during birth and rapidly thereafter – initially from mom and then from a variety of sources including environment and diet. Ultimately, the makeup of each person’s gastrointestinal microorganisms is as unique as fingerprints.
The Gut Function Initiative seeks to improve understanding of the GI system and, ultimately, transform that understanding into practices and products that might help address obesity, disease and other concerns.
Earlier research has found that the transition to a low fat diet in overweight humans shifted the gut flora to a composition that resembled that of healthy non-obese matched controls. Conversely, the dissemination of a complex gut flora from overweight animals into the gut of otherwise matched animals can induce statistically significant weight gains.
This research aims to uncover natural genetic variants in the host that explain variation in mouse gut microbiota and also explore its impact on obesity and other metabolic phenotypes that affect health.
Ciobanu’s team combined next-generation sequencing, genetic mapping and a set of over 140 physiological traits from the mouse population to explore genetic factors that explain differences in gut microbiota and its impact on metabolic traits. Some of those differences are quite significant, Ciobanu said. The research uncovered genes with the potential to alter gut immunological profiles and affect the balance between gut microbial communities.
“This is the first research that carries out a deep multi-scalar analysis of microbiota in a genetic population of mice characterized by important differences in a range of metabolic phenotypes that will be relevant to metabolic syndrome,” he said. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The mouse sample studied so far is relatively small but the results are very encouraging. Scientists are seeking new funding to expand the work, said Ciobanu, whose background actually is in swine genetics research.
This UNL Agricultural Division Research is funded by a Layman Award from the Office of Research of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Funds, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Research Council Ideas Programme, NIAAA, NIDA and the University of Tennessee Center for Integrative and Translational Genomics.
.