Robles-Vera, IñakiCallejo, MaríaRamos, RicardoDuarte, JuanPerez-Vizcaino, Francisco2023-02-082023-02-082019-10-24http://hdl.handle.net/10668/15389Inadequate immunologic, metabolic and cardiovascular homeostasis has been related to either an alteration of the gut microbiota or to vitamin D deficiency. We analyzed whether vitamin D deficiency alters rat gut microbiota. Male Wistar rats were fed a standard or a vitamin D-free diet for seven weeks. The microbiome composition was determined in fecal samples by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The vitamin D-free diet produced mild changes on α- diversity but no effect on β-diversity in the global microbiome. Markers of gut dysbiosis like Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio or the short chain fatty acid producing bacterial genera were not significantly affected by vitamin D deficiency. Notably, there was an increase in the relative abundance of the Enterobacteriaceae, with significant rises in its associated genera Escherichia, Candidatus blochmannia and Enterobacter in vitamin D deficient rats. Prevotella and Actinomyces were also increased and Odoribacteraceae and its genus Butyricimonas were decreased in rats with vitamin D-free diet. In conclusion, vitamin D deficit does not induce gut dysbiosis but produces some specific changes in bacterial taxa, which may play a pathophysiological role in the immunologic dysregulation associated with this hypovitaminosis.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/16S rRNA sequencingmicrobiotavitamin D deficitAnimalsBacteriaDNA, BacterialGastrointestinal MicrobiomeMaleRNA, BacterialRNA, Ribosomal, 16SRatsRats, WistarVitamin DVitamin D Deficiencyresearch article31652902open access10.3390/nu111125642072-6643PMC6893507https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/11/2564/pdf?version=1571974458https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893507/pdf