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Eating behavior is essential to human health. However, whether future eating behavior is subjected to the conditioning of preceding dietary composition is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary fiber consumption on subsequent nutrient-specific food preferences between palatable high-fat and high-sugar diets and explore its correlation with the gut microbiota. C57BL/6NJcl male mice were subjected to a 2-week dietary intervention and fed either a control (n = 6) or inulin (n = 6) diet. Afterward, all mice were subjected to a 3-day eating behavioral test to self-select from the simultaneously presented high-fat and high-sugar diets. The test diet feed intakes were recorded, and the mice's fecal samples were analyzed to evaluate the gut microbiota composition. The inulin-conditioned mice exhibited a preference for the high-fat diet over the high-sugar diet, associated with distinct gut microbiota composition profiles between the inulin-conditioned and control mice. The gut microbiota Oscillospiraceae sp., Bacteroides acidifaciens, and Clostridiales sp. positively correlated with a preference for fat. Further studies with fecal microbiota transplantation and eating behavior-related neurotransmitter analyses are warranted to establish the causal role of gut microbiota on host food preferences. Food preferences induced by dietary intervention are a novel observation, and the gut microbiome may be associated with this preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microbiome is believed to be established during the birthing process through exposure to the maternal microbiome and immediate external environment. The absence of a microbiome prior to birth is based on the sterile womb hypothesis, which was formulated at the beginning of the 20th century and is supported primarily by the culture-based approach in microbiological studies. Findings of bacterial presence in products of fertilization such as the placenta, amniotic fluid, foetal membranes, and umbilical cord blood in studies using next-generation DNA sequencing technologies began to challenge the sterile nature of the intrauterine environment during gestation. These studies have been mainly criticized by their approach to contamination and inconclusive evidence of viability. The implications of bacterial presence in utero are far reaching in medicine and basic sciences. If commensal bacteria exist in the foetus, antibiotic therapies in pregnancy particularly for asymptomatic cases will need to be re-evaluated. Experimental studies utilizing gnotobiology may also be impacted by a realignment of theory. This review of existing literature aims to provide insight into the existence of bacteria in utero, specifically the foetal microbiome through analysis of experimental evidence and theoretical concepts, and to suggest approaches that may further provide clarity into this inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbiome dysbiosis has largely been defined using compositional analysis of metagenomic sequencing data; however, differences in the spatial arrangement of bacteria between healthy and diseased microbiomes remain largely unexplored. In this study, we measured the spatial arrangement of bacteria in dental implant biofilms from patients with healthy implants, peri-implant mucositis, or peri-implantitis, an oral microbiome-associated inflammatory disease. We discovered that peri-implant biofilms from patients with mild forms of the disease were characterized by large single-genus patches of bacteria, while biofilms from healthy sites were more complex, mixed structures. Based on these findings, we propose a model of peri-implant dysbiosis where changes in biofilm spatial architecture allow the colonization of new community members. This model indicates that spatial structure could be used as a potential biomarker for community stability and has implications in diagnosis and treatment of peri-implant diseases. These results enhance our understanding of peri-implant disease pathogenesis and may be broadly relevant for spatially structured microbiomes.