EVALUATION OF GUT MICROBIOTA DIVERSITY OF FEMALE WISTAR RATS FED WITH GENETICALLY MODIFIED COWPEA USING 16S rRNA METAGENOMICS

The gut microbiota contributes to host nutrition, intestinal homeostasis and immune regulation, and its composition can respond to dietary changes. This study evaluated the faecal bacterial profiles of female Wistar rats fed diets containing genetically modified (Bt) cowpea or non-Bt cowpea using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Following a two-week acclimatization period, rats were allocated to a control group and groups receiving diets containing 50% or 100% Bt cowpea or non-Bt cowpea for 16 weeks. At the end of the feeding period, faecal material was collected from two rats per group, pooled within groups, and subjected to DNA extraction and 16S rRNA gene analysis. The taxonomic plots showed differences in the relative representation of bacterial classes and genera among dietary groups. In the 50% Bt cowpea profile, Bacilli represented 41.7% of the assigned class-level profile, while Lactobacillus represented 37.4% at genus level. The 50% non-Bt cowpea profile was characterised by Bacteroidia (43.6%) and Prevotella (36.2%). In the 100% Bt cowpea profile, Spirochaetia (39.2%) and Treponema D (40.4%) were prominent, whereas the 100% non-Bt profile included Clostridia (55.9%) at class level and a more distributed genus-level profile, led by Fimimorpha (16.2%). These descriptive patterns suggest that diet composition was associated with differences in the bacterial profiles observed in the pooled samples. However, the findings in this study is preliminary as such, further studies in relevant toxicological assessments are required to ascertain the effects of shift in bacterial diversity.