Remodeling and Alteration of the Gut Microbial Community in Suncus murinus Receiving Fecal Microbiota Transplantations from Mice with High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Frontier Health Sciences, Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 116-8551, Japan
- 2School of Public Health and Health Management, Gannan Medical University, Gannan 341000, China
- 3Faculty of Physical Education, Qu Jing Normal University, Qujing 655000, China
- 4Division of Anatomical Science, Department of Functional Morphology, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan
- 5State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Abstract
Background: Obesity-associated gut microbiota can transmit metabolic traits in permissive recipients; however, microbial engraftment following fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is also constrained by the recipient’s intestinal environment. Suncus murinus (S. murinus) is an insectivorous and naturally obesity-resistant species with a distinctive gut ecology, making it a potential model for examining recipient filtering during cross-species FMT. Objectives: To determine whether cecal microbiota from high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice induces persistent donor diet-specific microbial and host phenotypes in S. murinus relative to microbiota from normal chow diet (NCD)-fed donors. Methods: S. murinus recipients (n = 12) were randomly allocated to high-fat diet-recipient (HFD-r) and normal chow diet-recipient (NCD-r) groups (n = 6 per group). All recipients received the same normal trout diet throughout the study. The recipients were administered supernatants of donor cecal microbiota via oral gavage for three consecutive days. A 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis was performed on fecal samples collected before antibiotic treatment and at weeks 4 and 8 post-FMT. Longitudinal microbial outcomes were analyzed using common baseline-constrained longitudinal models, restricted PERMANOVA, and false discovery rate correction. Results: Bacillota was the predominant phylum in both the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. The most consistent taxonomic response was a shared decrease in Campylobacterota and its major constituent genus Helicobacter after treatment, particularly at 4 weeks, whereas no robust phylum- or genus-level differences were detected between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Observed ASV richness and Faith’s phylogenetic diversity did not differ significantly among the groups. Principal coordinate analyses showed extensive overlap, and a restricted PERMANOVA detected no significant separation between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Histological examination revealed crown-like arrangements and heterogeneous adipocyte morphology, and variation in villus and crypt appearance in representative recipient sections. Conclusions: No significant differences in fecal microbial composition, body weight, or glucose tolerance were detected between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Recipient-associated ecological constraints remain a possible explanation requiring direct assessment of donor engraftment. Further work is needed to evaluate S. murinus as a model for investigating recipient-side constraints on microbiota colonization.
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BibTeX
@article{zeng2026remodeling,
title = {{Remodeling and Alteration of the Gut Microbial Community in Suncus murinus Receiving Fecal Microbiota Transplantations from Mice with High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity}},
author = {Yuhao Zeng and Mingshou Zhang and Ke Ren and Ting Yang and Jun Li and Shuang-Qin Yi},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/nu18213626},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3626},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Remodeling and Alteration of the Gut Microbial Community in Suncus murinus Receiving Fecal Microbiota Transplantations from Mice with High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity
AU - Yuhao Zeng
AU - Mingshou Zhang
AU - Ke Ren
AU - Ting Yang
AU - Jun Li
AU - Shuang-Qin Yi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/31
JO - Nutrients
DO - 10.3390/nu18213626
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3626
AB - Background: Obesity-associated gut microbiota can transmit metabolic traits in permissive recipients; however, microbial engraftment following fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is also constrained by the recipient’s intestinal environment. Suncus murinus (S. murinus) is an insectivorous and naturally obesity-resistant species with a distinctive gut ecology, making it a potential model for examining recipient filtering during cross-species FMT. Objectives: To determine whether cecal microbiota from high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice induces persistent donor diet-specific microbial and host phenotypes in S. murinus relative to microbiota from normal chow diet (NCD)-fed donors. Methods: S. murinus recipients (n = 12) were randomly allocated to high-fat diet-recipient (HFD-r) and normal chow diet-recipient (NCD-r) groups (n = 6 per group). All recipients received the same normal trout diet throughout the study. The recipients were administered supernatants of donor cecal microbiota via oral gavage for three consecutive days. A 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis was performed on fecal samples collected before antibiotic treatment and at weeks 4 and 8 post-FMT. Longitudinal microbial outcomes were analyzed using common baseline-constrained longitudinal models, restricted PERMANOVA, and false discovery rate correction. Results: Bacillota was the predominant phylum in both the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. The most consistent taxonomic response was a shared decrease in Campylobacterota and its major constituent genus Helicobacter after treatment, particularly at 4 weeks, whereas no robust phylum- or genus-level differences were detected between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Observed ASV richness and Faith’s phylogenetic diversity did not differ significantly among the groups. Principal coordinate analyses showed extensive overlap, and a restricted PERMANOVA detected no significant separation between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Histological examination revealed crown-like arrangements and heterogeneous adipocyte morphology, and variation in villus and crypt appearance in representative recipient sections. Conclusions: No significant differences in fecal microbial composition, body weight, or glucose tolerance were detected between the HFD-r and NCD-r groups. Recipient-associated ecological constraints remain a possible explanation requiring direct assessment of donor engraftment. Further work is needed to evaluate S. murinus as a model for investigating recipient-side constraints on microbiota colonization.
SN - 2072-6643
ER -