Distinct Gut Microbiota Induced by Different Fat-to-Sugar-Ratio High-Energy Diets Share Similar Pro-obesity Genetic and Metabolite Profiles in Prediabetic Mice

Abstract

Various types of diet can lead to type 2 diabetes. The gut microbiota in type 2 diabetic patients are also different. So, two questions arise: whether there are any commonalities between gut microbiota induced by different pro-obese diets and whether these commonalities lead to disease. Here we found that high-energy diets with two different fat-to-sugar ratios can both cause obesity and prediabetes but enrich different gut microbiota. Still, these different gut microbiota have similar genetic and metabolite compositions. The microbial metabolites in common between the diets modulate lipid accumulation and macrophage inflammation in vivo and in vitro . This work suggests that studies that only use 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to determine how the microbes respond to diet and associate with diabetic state are missing vital information.