ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1610170
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Interaction Between Food Ingredients and Gut Microbiome on Health and DiseaseView all 24 articles
Dissecting the molecular interactions between botanical extracts and the human gut microbiota
Provisionally accepted
- University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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Over millions of years, humans and their gut microbes have developed a symbiotic relationship that benefits both organisms. Many plants and herbs consumed as food by humans, such as aloe vera gel and dandelion root extracts, contain bioactive compounds with recognized therapeutic or preventive effects. However, the impact of these botanicals on the composition and functionality of the human gut microbiota is not yet understood. In this study, the molecular impact of these botanicals on reconstructed human gut microbiota was assessed by in-vitro bioreactor experiments followed by metagenomics and transcriptomic approaches, highlighting both taxonomic and functional changes in the human gut microbiome. Furthermore, cross-feeding activities established by common human gut microbial taxa like Bacteroides spp. when cultivated on these extracts were assessed.In conclusion, the results show that botanicals affect intestinal populations that are highly dependent on the microbial taxa present and that trophic interactions are established in few key gut members.
Keywords: Gut Microbiota, microbiome, Dandelion root, Aloe vera gel, bifidobacteria
Received: 11 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mancabelli, Tarracchini, Longhi, ALESSANDRI, Ventura and Turroni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Francesca Turroni, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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