Biology subjects

Burcham, Z. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Burcham, Z. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Waste oil substrates reshape the black soldier fly larval gut microbiome and biomass composition during bioconversion

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are generalist decomposers with promise for converting agricultural and food-processing by-products into value-added bioproducts, but BSFL performance on lipid-rich waste oil streams and the role of the gut microbiome in this process remains unclear. Here, we evaluated BSFL bioconversion of a standard chicken feed diet supplemented with three chemically distinct waste oils: acidulated vegetable oil (AVO), pork grease (PG), and used cooking oil (UCO). Larval performance, bioconversion rate, gut microbiome composition, total protein and fat content, and fatty-acid profiles were measured across bioconversion. Larval age was a major driver of gut microbiome structure, but waste oil supplementation further reshaped community membership and structure, with the strongest diet-associated effects occurring during early-to-intermediate bioconversion. Most differentially abundant taxa were members of the baseline core gut community, suggesting that oil supplementation primarily altered dominance patterns among resident taxa. PG and UCO supported larval growth and bioconversion performance comparable to the chicken feed control, whereas AVO reduced bioconversion rate and showed weaker growth outcomes. Oil supplementation also increased larval fat content, reduced protein content, and shifted fatty-acid profiles toward the corresponding oil feedstocks, although larval biomass composition remained shaped by basal diet and host or microbial metabolism. These findings show that selected lipid-rich waste streams can support efficient BSFL bioconversion while restructuring resident gut microbiome members that may tolerate, metabolize, or indirectly respond to oil-associated conditions, contributing to substrate-dependent changes in larval lipid accumulation and fatty-acid composition. IMPORTANCEAgricultural and food-processing systems generate large amounts of lipid-rich by-products that are difficult to manage using conventional waste-valorization approaches. Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) offer a biological route for recovering nutrients from these materials, but efficient conversion depends on interactions among substrate chemistry, larval physiology, and the gut microbiome. This study shows that selected waste oil streams can support larval growth while restructuring resident gut microbial communities and altering larval fatty-acid composition. These findings are important for agricultural biotechnology because they frame BSFL production as a host-microbiome bioconversion system rather than simply an insect-based waste-reduction process. Understanding how gut microbes respond to chemically distinct lipid wastes can guide substrate selection, pretreatment, and microbiome-informed optimization strategies for converting underutilized agricultural and food-processing residues into value-added bioproducts for circular agricultural systems.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

Inflammation is the Driver of Butyrate-Producing Bacteria Change in Interleukin10 Knockout Mice

BackgroundAlterations of gut microbiota have been implicated in the development of inflammatory bowel disease. Specifically, patients with IBD show the reduced levels of gut bacteria to produce butyrate, a crucial metabolite for maintaining gut homeostasis, along with decreased levels of fecal butyrate. However, there is limited research on changes in butyrate-producing bacteria at various taxonomic levels during the development of inflammatory bowel disease. ResultsWe investigated the changes of butyrate-producing bacteria in interleukin10 knockout mice, a suitable IBD model, as these mice require gut microbiota to develop spontaneous chronic colitis. Our findings indicate increased inflammation and a metabolic shift from butyrate oxidation toward glycolysis in 9-week-old interleukin10 knockout mice. Furthermore, we observed significant changes in two terminal enzymes involved in butyrate production: a significant increase of butyrate kinase and a significant decrease of butyryl-CoA:acetate-CoA-transferase. These observations align with an increased abundance of Coprococcus comes, which utilizes butyrate kinase, and a decreased abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii that utilizes butyryl-CoA:acetate-CoA-transferase. Moreover, reduced levels of acetate, a necessary co-substrate for butyryl-CoA:acetate-CoA-transferase activity, were observed in interleukin10 knockout mice. ConclusionsThese findings enhance our understanding of changes in butyrate-producing bacteria populations at various taxonomic levels, ranging from phylum to gene level in 9-week-old interleukin10 knockout mice. Furthermore, these data suggest a potential for diagnosing IBD at an early stage by analyzing the composition of butyrate-producing bacteria.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2024

Campylobacter infection of young children in Colombia and its impact on the gastrointestinal environment

Campylobacter infections are a leading cause of bacterial-derived gastroenteritis worldwide with particularly profound impacts on pediatric patients in low-and-middle income countries. It remains unclear how Campylobacter impacts these hosts, though it is becoming increasingly evident that it is a multifactorial process that depends on the host immune response, the gastrointestinal microbiota, various bacterial factors, and host nutritional status. Since these factors likely vary between adult and pediatric patients in different regions of the world, it is important that studies define these attributes in well characterized clinical cohorts in diverse settings. In this study, we analyzed the fecal microbiota and the metabolomic and micronutrient profiles of asymptomatic and symptomatic pediatric patients in Colombia that were either infected or uninfected with Campylobacter during a case-controlled study on acute diarrheal disease. Here, we report that the microbiome of Campylobacter-infected children only changed in their abundance of Campylobacter spp. despite the inclusion of children with or without diarrhea. In addition to increased Campylobacter, computational models were used to identify fecal metabolites that were associated with Campylobacter infection and found that glucose-6-phosphate and homovanillic acid were the strongest predictors of infection in these pediatric patients, which suggest that colonocyte metabolism are impacted during infection. Despite changes to the fecal metabolome, the concentrations of intestinal minerals and trace elements were not significantly impacted by Campylobacter infection, but were elevated in uninfected children with diarrhea. ImportanceGastrointestinal infection with pathogenic Campylobacter species has long been recognized as a significant cause of human morbidity. Recently, it has been observed that pediatric populations in low-and-middle income countries are uniquely impacted by these organisms in that infected children can be persistently colonized, develop enteric dysfunction, and exhibit reduced development and growth. While the association of Campylobacter species with these long-term effects continues to emerge, the impact of infection on the gastrointestinal environment of these children remains uncharacterized. To address this knowledge gap, our group leveraged clinical samples collected during a previous study on gastrointestinal infections in pediatric patients to examine the fecal microbiota, metabolome, and micronutrient profiles of those infected with Campylobacter species, and found that the metabolome was impacted in a way that suggests gastrointestinal cell metabolism is affected during infection, which is some of the first data indicating how gastrointestinal health in these patients may be affected.

microbiology↗