Microbiota-directed fibre activates both targeted and secondary metabolic shifts in the distal gut

Abstract

Here, the authors tailor an acetylated galactoglucomannan (AcGGM) fibre from spruce wood to specifically enrich Roseburia and Faecalibacterium - beneficial species which have the enzymatic machinery to breakdown the fibre and generate butyrate. They subsequently perform a piglet feeding trial, metagenomics and metaproteomics, together showing that AcGGM-fed pigs exhibit not only increased Roseburia and Faecalibacterium populations with AcGGM-specific mannan-specific esterases, but also secondary metabolic pathways.