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ToolsAbi Assaf, Justin, de Coriolis, Jean-Charles, Godden, Alice May, Redhead, Eve, Bartram, Jamie, Cohen-Krais, Jayme, Silova, Karina, Crighton, Zoe, Le Gall, Gwenaelle, Sami, Saber, Khalid, Sami Ahmed and Immler, Simone (2025) Gum Arabic modulates the microbiota-gut-brain axis and affects general fitness in zebrafish. Scientific Reports, 15. ISSN 2045-2322
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Abstract
Gum Arabic (GA) (Acacia senegal var. senegal) is an edible tree exudate and dietary fibre shown to improve health in humans and animals. We tested the ramifications of GAon organismal health across the microbiota-gut-brain axis by supplementing female and male zebrafish (Danio rerio) with two concentrations(6% or 60%) of GA (Acacia senegal var. senegal) for two weeks. We assessed the effects on the gut microbiome composition, intestinal and brain metabolic profiles, reproductive fitness, locomotion, and brain gene expression. GA supplementation induced a relative decrease in Proteobacteria and a relative increase in Fusobacteria, with a rise in the beneficial genus Cetobacterium. In the GA-supplemented fish, we detected increased intestinal glucose metabolism, evidenced by reduced glucose retention levels. Additionally, high levels of acetate were detected in the brain. Interestingly, the gene cart1, involved in appetite and hunger control, was significantly downregulated in female brains only. Consistently, we detected increased locomotion in GA-supplemented fish compared to Control fish. Interestingly, GA supplementation had a negative effect on female reproductive fitness and a positive effect on male reproductive fitness. .Our results emphasise the significance of evaluating the impact of dietary fibre at a systemic level to develop relevant nutritional guidelines that consider the different nutritional requirements of each sex.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Data availability: The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the GEO repository (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) under accession numbers GEO: GSE245252 and GEO: GSE245568. Also, the R scripts used for statistical analysis and graphical representation are available on GitHub https://github.com/asdfjohnny1/Gum_Arabic_Manuscript). The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Funding information: This work was supported by grants from the European Research Council (grant no. SELECTHAPLOID-101001341), the Natural Environment Research Council (grant no. NE/S011188/1) to SI, and a PhD studentship from the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 218467/Z/19/Z) to JAA. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | acetate,brain transcriptome,cetobacterium,dietary fibre,locomotion,reproductive fitness |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Nutrition and Preventive Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Mental Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation |
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| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Aug 2025 15:30 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Oct 2025 00:08 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100242 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-025-17665-z |
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