Establishment of microbiota analytical methods by quantitative PCR method and evaluation of Microbiota-accessible carbohydrates in mice.

Abstract

　Standard bacterial strains for microbiota analysis were obtained and standard curves were calculated by quantitative PCR. Standard curves of Bacteroides fragilis group, Prevotella genus, Eubacterium genus, Clostridium coccoides group, Clostridium leptum subgroup, Lactobacillus genus, Bifidobacterium genus，Atopobium cluster genus were prepared successfully. Cecal microbiota and short chain fatty acid production were analyzed in mice fed high fat diet containing three different types of barley cultivars with different ß-glucan contents. The effect of intestinal regulating function which increases the population of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus was same among three different types of barley cultivars. Increase in propionate production was observed in one type of barley cultivar. Two types of barley cultivars also decreased the population of Clostridium coccoides group which promotes in intestinal pro-inflammation. These results indicated that these changes were related to the beneficial effects of barley on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.