Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain 84-3-derived l-glutamine ameliorates glucose homeostasis via AMPK/PPARγ signaling pathway activation in type 2 diabetes

Background

Gut microbiota and their metabolites play an essential role in type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, contributions of individual bacterial strains and their metabolites to T2D pathogenesis remain poorly understood. We investigated T2D regulation by Lactobacillus in various animal models to understand its therapeutic effects.

Methods and results

We performed a case-control study of Chinese adults using metabolome profiling and identified an inverse correlation between l-glutamine and T2D serum concentrations. The glnA and GLUL genes encoding glutamine synthetase (GS) in L. plantarum 84–3 were also identified. L. plantarum 84–3 treatment significantly decreased serum inflammation and improved metabolic phenotypes in streptozotocin- or tetraoxypyrimidine-induced T2D rats, including blood glucose, glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, and lipids. We confirmed elevated serum l-glutamine levels in the L. plantarum 84–3 group. RNA sequencing analysis demonstrated that L. plantarum 84–3-derived l-glutamine is a vital bioactive molecule, improving glucose homeostasis by activating the liver AMPK/PPAR signaling pathway and ameliorating T2D. We conducted co-culture fermentation experiments in vitro and in vivo, and metagenomic and metabolomic analyses revealed that resistance starch combined with L. plantarum 84–3 significantly enriched of Lactobacillus abundance and increased the l-glutamine level, affecting of alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways, which was confirmed in vivo in rats. The reduced L. plantarum and l-glutamine levels were validated in a human T2D cohort.

Conclusions

These findings revealed a novel therapeutic effect of L. plantarum in alleviating T2D-related glucose homeostasis by increasing circulating l-glutamine, which suggests viable preventive and therapeutic strategies for metabolic disorders.