Dog and human gut microbiomes have more
similar genes and responses to diet than we previously thought, according to a
study published in the open access journal, Microbiome.
Dr Luis Pedro Coelho and colleagues from the
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, in collaboration with Nestlé Research,
evaluated the gut microbiome of two
dog breeds and found that the gene content of the
dogs microbiome showed many similarities to the human gut microbiome, and was
more similar to humans than the microbiome of pigs or mice.
Dr Luis Pedro Coelho, corresponding author of
the study, commented:
"We found many similarities between the
gene content of the human and dog gut microbiomes. The results of this
comparison suggest that we are more similar to man's best friend than we
originally thought."
The researchers found that changes in the
amount of protein and carbohydrates in the diet had a similar effect on the
microbiota of dogs and humans, independent of the dog's breed or sex. The
microbiomes of overweight or obese dogs were found to be more responsive to a
high protein diet compared to microbiomes of lean dogs; this is consistent with
the idea that healthy microbiomes are more resilient.
Dr Luis Pedro Coelho, commented:
"These findings suggest that dogs could
be a better model for nutrition studies than pigs or mice and we could
potentially use data from dogs to study the impact of diet on gut microbiota in
humans, and humans could be a good model to study the nutrition of dogs.
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