The effect of different drinking water in culture medium on feces microbiota diversity

Zhou K, Liu W, Chen Z, Yang D, Qiu Z, Feng H, Li C, Jin M, Li J, Xu Q, Shen Z · Journal of Water and Health · 2020 November 27

DOI 10.2166/wh.2020.075

Objective

To investigate the effect of different types of drinking water on the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota in BALB/c mice.

Conclusions

The study concludes that the type of drinking water used as a culture medium affects the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota, with mineral water leading to an increase in diversity and the promotion of Bacteroidetes growth.

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Insights

Mineral water increases the diversity of gut microbiota by aiding the growth of Bacteroidetes taxa.

The researchers carried out the study on BALB/c mice, focusing specifically on the bacterial community in their feces and how it responds to different types of drinking water. These types included commercial bottled mineral water, natural water, purified water, and tap water. After culturing the feces in a combination of brain heart infusion broth dissolved in the four water types, they conducted a 16S rRNA gene analysis to study the bacterial composition. The bacterial composition varied significantly between the four different types of drinking water. Over time, the overall number of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) decreased, with the exception of cultures grown in mineral water under aerobic conditions. Under these conditions, by the fifth day, alpha diversity differences were particularly noticeable when comparing mineral water with the other types. The most unique taxa were found within the mineral water group. Notably, the Bacteroidetes taxa showed the most significant differences, dominating in the mineral water compared to the other types of water. This indicates that using mineral water as a culture medium could lead to a progressive increase in gut microbiota diversity.