Both obesogenic and isocalorically-controlled diets drive changes in microbiota composition in a sex-dependent manner in mice

We have observed the loss of structure and function of olfactory circuits following consumption of excess dietary fat as maintained by isocaloric feeding. Because changes in microbiome composition have not been examined during this type of diet that does not induce overt obesity, we performed isocaloric feeding of a moderately high-fat (MHF) diet, and assessed gut microbiome changes over 5 months by sequencing the 16s V4 region in fecal samples. MHF diet similarly reduced alpha diversity in both isocaloric and ad libitum fat-fed animals by 5 months. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity analysis revealed unique beta diversity in each dietary group in female mice at 3 and 5 months, while fat-fed groups of male mice were not different. Elevated abundance of Firmicutes was found in all MHF ad libitum fed male and female mice. Bacteroidetes was reduced in all MHF-fed male mice, but only female mice fed the MHF diet ad libitum. Allobaculum abundance was positively associated with MHF ad libitum feeding, while Muribaculaceae abundance exhibited a negative association. Notable graded-abundance associations between ad libitum control-fat fed, isocalorically fat-fed, and ad libitum fat-fed mice were observed for bacteria such as Lactobacillus salivarius; providing insight into effects of dietary fat consumption vs. overconsumption. Transient abundance changes, observed with Ruminococcaceae, for example, capture microbial dynamics reflective of diet-induced obesity onset that were not sustained in chronic obesity. We conclude that the gut microbiome is differentially modulated by consumption of excess dietary fat vs. overconsumption of excess dietary fat leading to obesity.