High arabinoxylan fine structure specificity to gut bacteria driven by corn genotypes but not environment

While gut bacteria have different abilities to utilize dietary fibers, the degree of fiber structural alignment to bacteria species is not well understood. Corn bran arabinoxylan (CAX) was used to investigate how minor polymer fine structural differences at the genotype × environment level influences the human gut microbiota. CAXs were extracted from 4 corn genotypes × 3 growing years and used in in vitro fecal fermentations. CAXs from different genotypes had varied contents of arabinose/xylose ratio (0.46−0.54), galactose (58−101 mg/g), glucuronic acid (18−32 mg/g). There was genotype- but not environment-specific differences in fine structures. After 24 h fermentation, CAX showed different acetate (71−86 mM), propionate (35−44 mM), butyrate (7−10 mM), and total short chain fatty acid (SCFA) (117−137 mM) production. SCFA profiles and gut microbiota both shifted in a genotype-specific way. In conclusion, the study reveals a very high specificity of fiber structure to gut bacteria use and SCFA production.