Modeling diet-gut microbiome interactions and prebiotic responses in Thai adults

TL;DR

This study uses a systems biology approach to model how diet and prebiotics affect gut microbiome metabolism in Thai adults.

Contribution

A novel systems biology pipeline integrating genome-scale metabolic models with Thai dietary data to simulate gut microbiome metabolism and prebiotic responses.

Findings

Inter-individual variability in short-chain fatty acid profiles was observed.

Bacteroides and Phocaeicola were linked to isobutyrate production.

Bifidobacterium showed significant response to prebiotic supplementation.

Abstract

The impact of diet on gut microbial metabolism is essential for advancing microbiome-based health interventions. This study introduces a novel systems biology pipeline that integrates genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs) with Thai dietary intake data to simulate gut microbiome metabolism and assess prebiotic responses. Utilizing metagenomic data from healthy Thai adults and an average Thai diet derived from national surveys, community-scale metabolic models (CSMMs) were developed and simulated under both typical dietary and prebiotic-supplemented condition. Flux variability analysis was employed to assess metabolic capacities, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production in relation to microbial taxonomy. The results promisingly revealed inter-individual variability in SCFA profiles, with Bacteroides and Phocaeicola notably linked to isobutyrate production and Bifidobacterium emerged as a key responder to prebiotic supplementation. This integrative framework offers biological insights into diet-gut microbiome interactions and provides a foundation for the development of precision nutrition strategies tailored to the Thai population.

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