polymers-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Polymer Dietary Fibers and Gut Microbiota

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Fibers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 3406

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
Interests: gut microbiota; marine polysaccharides; colitis; inflammatory bowel disease; fermentation; prebiotics; probiotics; obesity; diabetes; carbohydrate-based drugs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dietary fibers are a class of functional carbohydrate polymers that we consume every day. Dietary fibers are not absorbed after oral intake. Therefore, when reaching the distal colon, they could be fermented and metabolized by the gut microbiota. During this process, specific microbes from the gut will degrade the fibers and produce short-chain fatty acids. Additionally, certain fibers can promote the growth of specific bacteria in the gut and change the structure of the microbiota. Gut microbiota is a fast-moving field of biomedical research, and dissecting the interactions between gut microbiota and dietary fibers can help us to understand the function and metabolism of these polymers. It is against this backdrop that this Special Issue is being launched, which will focus on studies that explore the interactions between dietary fibers and gut microbiota.

In this Special Issue of Polymers, we sincerely invite you to submit research articles or informative reviews aiming to elucidate the interactions between gut microbiota and dietary fibers. Specifically, we would like to understand how dietary fibers are metabolized by human gut microbiota and what effects dietary fibers have on the composition of the gut microbiota in health and disease. Research articles and reviews to be considered for publication in this issue should focus on the following topics:

  1. Degradation behaviors of dietary fibers (for example, inulin, resistant starch, xylan, pectin) and functional natural polysaccharides by human gut microbiota;
  2. Modulatory effects of dietary fibers and functional natural polysaccharides on the gut microbiota in health and disease;
  3. Isolation of fiber-degrading bacteria from the human gut microbiota;
  4. Multi-omics studies aiming to dissect the interactions between gut microbiota and dietary fibers;
  5. Fermentation products analysis of dietary fibers and functional natural polysaccharides.

Dr. Qingsen Shang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dietary fiber
  • gut microbiota
  • fermentation
  • prebiotics
  • probiotics
  • polysaccharides
  • short-chain fatty acids
  • degradation
  • high-throughput sequencing
  • carbohydrate polymers

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 5967 KiB  
Article
Enterotype-Specific Effect of Human Gut Microbiota on the Fermentation of Marine Algae Oligosaccharides: A Preliminary Proof-of-Concept In Vitro Study
by Tianyu Fu, Luning Zhou, Zhiliang Fu, Bin Zhang, Quancai Li, Lin Pan, Chen Zhou, Qing Zhao, Qingsen Shang and Guangli Yu
Polymers 2022, 14(4), 770; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14040770 - 16 Feb 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3039
Abstract
The human gut microbiota plays a critical role in the metabolism of dietary carbohydrates. Previous studies have illustrated that marine algae oligosaccharides could be utilized and readily fermented by human gut microbiota. However, the human gut microbiota is classified into three different enterotypes, [...] Read more.
The human gut microbiota plays a critical role in the metabolism of dietary carbohydrates. Previous studies have illustrated that marine algae oligosaccharides could be utilized and readily fermented by human gut microbiota. However, the human gut microbiota is classified into three different enterotypes, and how this may affect the fermentation processes of marine algae oligosaccharides has not been studied. Here, using in vitro fermentation and 16 S high-throughput sequencing techniques, we demonstrate that the human gut microbiota has an enterotype-specific effect on the fermentation outcomes of marine algae oligosaccharides. Notably, microbiota with a Bacteroides enterotype was more proficient at fermenting carrageenan oligosaccharides (KOS) as compared to that with a Prevotella enterotype and that with an Escherichia enterotype. Interestingly, the prebiotic effects of marine algae oligosaccharides were also found to be enterotype dependent. Altogether, our study demonstrates an enterotype-specific effect of human gut microbiota on the fermentation of marine algae oligosaccharides. However, due to the availability of the fecal samples, only one sample was used to represent each enterotype. Therefore, our research is a proof-of-concept study, and we anticipate that more detailed studies with larger sample sizes could be conducted to further explore the enterotype-specific prebiotic effects of marine oligosaccharides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Dietary Fibers and Gut Microbiota)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop