Mushroom polysaccharides from Ganoderma lucidum and Poria cocos reveal prebiotic functions

Abstract Ganoderma lucidum and Poria cocos are the medicinal mushrooms that have been used as traditional Chinese medicines and consumed as functional foods. We hypothesized that these mushroom polysaccharides could contribute to health benefits, in part, by modulating gut microbiota (GM). In this study, mushroom polysaccharides derived from fruiting bodies and mycelia were administrated daily (750 mg/kg) to 6 weeks-old C57BL/6J mice for 15 days. Then, mice GM was evaluated using ERIC-PCR and 16S amplicon sequencing. A total of 2.59 million high-quality reads (>200 bp) were processed and evaluated for GM profiling. Polysaccharides reduced OTUs diversity and significantly (p