A 15-day pilot biodiversity intervention with horses in a farm system leads to gut microbiome rewilding in 10 urban Italian children
Daniel Scicchitano,
Lucia Foresto,
Cédric C. Laczny,
Nicoló Cinti,
Rosalba Vitagliano,
Rashi Halder,
Gaja Morri,
Silvia Turroni,
Federica D'Amico,
Giorgia Palladino,
Jessica Fiori,
Paul Wilmes,
Simone Rampelli,
Marco Candela
Affiliations
Daniel Scicchitano
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy
Lucia Foresto
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy
Cédric C. Laczny
Systems Ecology Group, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Nicoló Cinti
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy
Rosalba Vitagliano
Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Rashi Halder
Systems Ecology Group, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Gaja Morri
Psy D., Psychotherapist, Psychoanalyst, via M. Serenari, 7, 40033 Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, Italy
Silvia Turroni
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Federica D'Amico
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Giorgia Palladino
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy
Jessica Fiori
Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna (IRCCS), Laboratory of Proteomics Metabolomics and Bioanalitical Chemistry, 40124 Bologna, Italy
Paul Wilmes
Systems Ecology Group, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Simone Rampelli
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy
Marco Candela
Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, 61032 Fano, Italy; Corresponding author at: Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro, 6, 40126 Bologna, BO, Italy.
To provide some glimpses on the possibility of shaping the human gut microbiome (GM) through probiotic exchange with natural ecosystems, here we explored the impact of 15 days of daily interaction with horses on the GM of 10 urban-living Italian children. Specifically, the children were in close contact with the horses in an “educational farm”, where they spent almost 10 h/day interacting with the animals. The children's GM was assessed before and after the horse interaction using metabarcoding sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, along with the horses' skin, oral and fecal microbiomes. Targeted metabolomic analysis for GM-produced beneficial metabolites (i.e., short-chain fatty acids) in the children's feces was also performed. Interaction with horses facilitated the acquisition of health-related traits in the children's GM, such as increased diversity, enhanced butyrate production and an increase in several health-promoting species considered to be next-generation probiotics. Among these, the butyrate producers Facecalibacterium prausnitzii and F. duncaniae and a species belonging to the order Christensenellales. Interaction with horses was also associated with increased proportions of Eggerthella lenta, Gordonibacter pamelae and G. urolithinfaciens, GM components known to play a role in the bioconversion of dietary plant polyphenols into beneficial metabolites. Notably, no increase in potentially harmful traits, including toxin genes, was observed. Overall, our pilot study provides some insights on the existence of possible health-promoting exchanges between children and horses microbiomes. It lays the groundwork for an implemented and more systematic enrollment effort to explore the full complexity of human GM rewilding through exchange with natural ecosystems, aligning with the One Health approach.
