Date of Completion
2025
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Animal Science
Thesis Type
Honors College
First Advisor
Jana Kraft
Second Advisor
Eric Bishop von Wettberg
Third Advisor
Tom Jetton
Keywords
yogurt, gut, microbiota, diversity, obesity, mice
Abstract
Dysbiosis, an imbalance of gut microbiota, has been implicated in the development of various chronic diseases, including obesity. Research has shown that probiotics can support gastrointestinal health and potentially reduce the risk of obesity by modulating the gut microbiota structure. However, the effect of specific probiotic strains on gut bacterial diversity microbiota remains underexplored. This study focuses on the effect of yogurt supplemented with two specific probiotic strains, Lactobacillus plantarum KABP-051 and Bifidobacterium BB-12, on the gut bacterial diversity in leptin-deficient, obesity-prone mice (B6.Lepob/ob). Fifty mice were fed either probiotic yogurt (1g/day; PRO group), regular yogurt (1g/day; CON+ group), or no yogurt (CON- group) for a duration of 16 weeks. In the 15th week, fecal samples were collected to isolate microbial DNA for subsequent 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to determine bacterial diversity and abundance. Mice fed PRO had greater alpha diversity compared to CON+-fed mice (Shannon = 4.92±0.09, p = 0.046; Simpson = 0.9882±0.0010, p = 0.004; Inverse Simpson = 95.81±8.31, p = 0.001). CON- values were similar to PRO values for Simpson and Inverse Simpson indices, though the reasoning for these changes differed between groups. Beta diversity (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, Jaccard Distance, and Unweighted-Unifrac) also showed differences between PRO and both control groups (all p<0.05), indicating distinct microbial community structures. Mice receiving PRO displayed greater species evenness and higher relative abundance of dominant taxa compared to the controls. In summary, dietary supplementation with probiotic yogurt containing Lactobacillus plantarum KABP-051 and Bifidobacterium BB-12 enhanced both alpha and beta diversity of the gut microbiota in obesity-prone mice. These findings suggest a potential role for strain-specific probiotic yogurt in favorably modulating gut microbiota composition.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Cattani, Gabriella Angelee, "THE IMPACT OF PROBIOTIC YOGURT ON MICROBIOTA DIVERSITY IN OBESITY-PRONE MICE" (2025). UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses. 696.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/696
