Host metabolic benefits of prebiotic exopolysaccharides produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides

ABSTRACT

Fermented foods demonstrate remarkable health benefits owing to probiotic bacteria or microproducts produced via bacterial fermentation. Fermented foods are produced by the fermentative action of several lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc mesenteroides; however, the exact mechanism of action of these foods remains unclear. Here, we observed that prebiotics associated with L. mesenteroides-produced exopolysaccharides (EPS) demonstrate substantial host metabolic benefits. L. mesenteroides-produced EPS is an indigestible α-glucan, and intake of the purified form of EPS improved glucose metabolism and energy homeostasis through EPS-derived gut microbial short-chain fatty acids, and changed gut microbial composition. Our findings reveal an important mechanism that accounts for the effects of diet, prebiotics, and probiotics on energy homeostasis and suggests an approach for preventing lifestyle-related diseases by targeting bacterial EPS.

KEYWORDS:

• Exopolysaccharides
• short-chain fatty acids
• dietary fiber
• prebiotics
• obesity
• gut microbiota

Abbreviations

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

data availability statement

A reporting summary for this Article is available as a Supplementary Information file. The source data for Figures 1–6, Supplementary Figures 1–5, and Supplementary Table 2 are provided as a Source Data file. The draft genome sequence of L. mesenteroides has been deposited in the whole genome database of the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) under Bio Project Accession No. BOPR01000001. The 16S rRNA sequencing data have been deposited into the DDBJ under the accession No. DRA013084 and DRA013085. All other data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article, and its Supplementary Information files or are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Authors’ contributions

J.M. performed the experiments and wrote the paper; H.S. performed the experiments and wrote the paper; K.H. performed the experiments; C.M. performed the experiments and interpreted data; S.I. performed the experiments and interpreted data; Y.A. performed the experiments and interpreted data; A.N. performed the experiments and interpreted data; A.I. performed the experiments and interpreted data; M.Y. performed the experiments and interpreted data; C.U. performed the experiments; J.I. interpreted data; T.K. interpreted data; H.O. interpreted data; H.I. interpreted data; K.Y. interpreted data; I.K. supervised the project, interpreted data, and wrote the paper; I.K. had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2022.2161271

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by research grants from the AMED (JP21gm1010007), KAKENHI (JP21H04862), JST-OPERA (JPMJOP1833), JST-MOONSHOOT (Moonshot Research and Development Program JPMJMS2023), and Noster Inc (to I.K.; Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)</#funding-source; JSPS</#funding-source; Japan Science and Technology Agency.