Dietary Proteins Rapidly Altered the Microbial Composition in Rat Caecum

Dietary proteins can alter gut microbial diversity. However, little is known about how gut bacteria respond to dietary proteins during short-term feeding. In the present study, PCR-DGGE analysis was performed to compare changes in gut microbial composition in rat caecum after rats were fed proteins from soy, pork, beef, chicken, fish and casein (control) for 2, 7 and 14 days. On day 2, differences were observed in microbial composition between groups of red meat (pork and beef) and white meat (chicken and fish) proteins. For a certain diet group, microbial composition showed a great change with feeding time. Principle component analysis indicated that the soy protein group showed a good separation in microbial composition from the casein and meat protein groups on days 7 and 14.