Xylo-Oligosaccharides in Prevention of Hepatic Steatosis and Adipose Tissue Inflammation: Associating Taxonomic and Metabolomic Patterns in Fecal Microbiomes with Biclustering

We have shown that prebiotic xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) increased beneficial gut microbiota (GM) and prevented high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis, but the mechanisms associated with these effects are not clear. We studied whether XOS affects adipose tissue inflammation and insulin signaling, and whether the GM and fecal metabolome explain associated patterns. XOS was supplemented or not with high (HFD) or low (LFD) fat diet for 12 weeks in male Wistar rats (n = 10/group). Previously analyzed GM and fecal metabolites were biclustered to reduce data dimensionality and identify interpretable groups of co-occurring genera and metabolites. Based on our findings, biclustering provides a use…