Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan-Dec;15(1):2229944.
doi: 10.1080/19490976.2023.2229944.

In vitro adhesion, pilus expression, and in vivo amelioration of antibiotic-induced microbiota disturbance by Bifidobacterium spp. strains from fecal donors

Aki Ronkainen  1 , Imran Khan  1 , Eva Krzyżewska-Dudek  2   3 , Kaisa Hiippala  1 , Tobias L Freitag  2 , Reetta Satokari  1
Affiliations

In vitro adhesion, pilus expression, and in vivo amelioration of antibiotic-induced microbiota disturbance by Bifidobacterium spp. strains from fecal donors

Aki Ronkainen et al. Gut Microbes. 2023 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is used routinely to treat recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) and investigated as a treatment for numerous conditions associated with gut microbiota alterations. Metagenomic analyses have indicated that recipient colonization by donor bacteria may be associated with favorable clinical outcomes. Bifidobacteria are abundant gut commensals associated with health. We have previously demonstrated that Bifidobacterium strains transferred in FMT can colonize recipients in long term, at least for a year, and recovered such strains by cultivation. This study addressed in vitro adhesion and pilus gene expression of long-term colonizing Bifidobacterium strains from FMT donors as well as in vivo colonization and capability to ameliorate antibiotic-induced microbiota disturbance. RNA-Seq differential gene expression analysis showed that the strongly adherent B. longum strains DY_pv11 and DX_pv23 expressed tight adherence and sortase-dependent pilus genes, respectively. Two B. longum strains, adherent DX_pv23 and poorly adhering DX_pv18, were selected to address in vivo colonization and efficacy to restore antibiotic-disturbed microbiota in C57BL/6 murine model. DX_pv23 colonized mice transiently with a rate comparable to that of the B. animalis BB-12 used as a reference. Although long-term colonization was not observed with any of the three strains, 16S rRNA gene profiling revealed that oral administration of DX_pv23 enhanced the recovery of antibiotic-disturbed microbiota to the original configuration significantly better than the other strains. The findings suggest that selected strains from FMT donors, such as DX_pv23 in this study, may have therapeutic potential by in vitro expression of colonization factors and boosting endogenous gut microbiota.

Keywords: Bacteriotherapy; dysbiosis; fecal microbiota transplantation; gut microbiota; next-generation probiotics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Design of the colonization experiment in mice.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Adhesion of Bifidobacterium spp. strains to intestinal mucus.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Differential gene expression among B. longum strains.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Bacterial richness and diversity in different treatment groups across time points.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Bacterial beta diversity in different treatment groups across time points.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Bacterial composition of fecal mouse microbiota at phylum level for different groups and time points.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tojo R. Intestinal microbiota in health and disease: role of bifidobacteria in gut homeostasis. World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(41):15163. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i41.15163. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cammarota G, Ianiro G, Tilg H, Rajilić-Stojanović M, Kump P, Satokari R, Sokol H, Arkkila P, Pintus C, Hart A, et al. European consensus conference on faecal microbiota transplantation in clinical practice. Gut. 2017;66(4):569–16. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2016-313017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allegretti JR, Mullish BH, Kelly C, Fischer M. The evolution of the use of faecal microbiota transplantation and emerging therapeutic indications. Lancet. 2019;394(10196):420–431. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31266-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ianiro G, Punčochář M, Karcher N, Porcari S, Armanini F, Asnicar F, Beghini F, Blanco-Míguez A, Cumbo F, Manghi P, et al. Variability of strain engraftment and predictability of microbiome composition after fecal microbiota transplantation across different diseases. Nat Med. 2022;28(9):1913–1923. doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01964-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arboleya S, Watkins C, Stanton C, Ross RP. Gut Bifidobacteria populations in human health and aging. Front Microbiol. 2016;7:7. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.01204. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources