Important Progress in Intestinal Flora Regulation Mechanism

　　 　　

Recently, the research team of aquatic animal disease prevention and control in our hospital published a research paper entitled "The gut microbiota response to health infection dependence on host sex and genotype" online with Northwest A&F University as the first unit in The ISME Journal, the flagship journal in the field of  Microecology  (Natural Index Journal, Class A Journal of "Double First-class" discipline group, Zone 1 of Chinese Academy of Sciences, IF2018="9." 493, 5-year average IF="10." 872). Professor Ling Fei of the College is the first author, and Professor Bolnick of the University of Connecticut and Professor Wang Gaoxue of the College are co-correspondents. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and NIH Science Foundation of the United States.

Intestinal microorganism is one of the hot research fields in recent years, which has been paid more and more attention to by researchers. A large number of studies have shown that intestinal microorganisms play a vital role in animal health. However, little is known about what factors can affect and how to affect host intestinal microorganisms. In-depth understanding of this core issue in the field of intestinal microbiology research is helpful for us to adjust the balance of intestinal flora by controlling these factors, which is of great significance to the ultimate realization of animal and even human health.

In recent years, more and more studies have found that pathogen infection can change the structure of host intestinal flora, but there are still some controversies about the interaction among pathogen, host and intestinal microorganisms, which indicates that there are some unknown factors affecting the interaction among them. Our previous studies found that there were great differences in immunity and prevalence against Schistocephalus solidus in three sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculatus) in different waters (Gosling Lake and Roberts Lake) (PNAS, 2017; 114: 6575-80). In this study, three sticklebacks from two lakes were selected as parents and hybrid F1 generation (Gos × Rob) and F2 generation (F1 × F1, Rob × F1, F1 × Rob, Gos × F1, and F1 × Gos) were obtained by cross and backcross under the same feeding conditions. Then, 16S amplicon and ddRAD sequencing technology was used to analyze 741 three sticklebacks and their intestinal tract before and after infection. The results showed that Taenia sativa infection can change the intestinal flora structure of Triticornis, and it is important that the differences of sex and QTLs on chromosomes can significantly affect the intestinal flora structure of Triticornis, and even determine the degree and direction of flora structure change. The findings suggest that treatments for regulating intestinal flora imbalance should take into account the sex and genotype of the host.

Original link: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6446/eaav6335? Intcmp="trendmd-sci