Biodiversity intervention; Children health; Gut microbiome rewilding; Shotgun sequencing; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Infectious Diseases
Abstract :
[en] 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.
Disciplines :
Microbiology
Author, co-author :
Scicchitano, Daniel; 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
Foresto, Lucia; 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
LACZNY, Cedric Christian ; University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) > Systems Ecology
Cinti, Nicoló; 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
Vitagliano, Rosalba; Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
HALDER, Rashi ; University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) > Scientific Central Services > Sequencing Platform
Morri, Gaja; Psy D., Psychotherapist, Psychoanalyst, via M. Serenari, 7, 40033 Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, Italy
Turroni, Silvia; Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
D'Amico, Federica; Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Palladino, Giorgia; 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
Fiori, Jessica; 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
WILMES, Paul ; University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) > Systems Ecology
Rampelli, Simone; 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
Candela, Marco; 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
H2020 - 818290 - CIRCLES - Controlling mIcRobiomes CircuLations for bEtter food Systems
Funders :
European Union
Funding text :
This work was carried out in the context of the \u201CControlling Microbiomes Circulations for Better Food Systems\u201D (CIRCLES) project, which was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 818290.
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