ArticleNPJ biofilms and microbiomes2025
Multiomic analysis of different horse breeds reveals that gut microbial butyrate enhances racehorse athletic performance.
Article in NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Increasing gut short-chain fatty acids protects intestinal barrier function but does not spare muscle glycogen or impact aerobic performance.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- Exerkines in precision management of metabolic diseases.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- Adaptive variation in butyrylcholinesterase-influenced lipid metabolism during horse domestication.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Prevotella melaninogenica Alleviate Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection Through the Butyrate Based on Multi-Omic Analysis and Experimental Validation.Chemical biology & drug design · 2026Article
- From Diet to Disease: The Role of the Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolites in Horses.Veterinary sciences · 2026Review
- A Comprehensive Review of the Equine Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease.Veterinary sciences · 2026Review
- Advances in Equine Genomics: Decoding the Genetic Architecture of Morphology, Performance, Behavior, and Adaptation.Molecular biotechnology · 2026Review
- Trehalose ameliorates severe acute pancreatitis by modulating gut microbial metabolism.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Molecular mechanism of gut microbiota regulation in skeletal muscle metabolic remodeling and meat quality trait formation in livestock and poultry: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Characterization of microbiota dysbiosis in papillary thyroid carcinoma and benign thyroid nodules: low abundance of intestinal butyrate-producing bacteria.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Gut microbes play a vital role in host physiology, but whether specific bacterial functions contribute to the exceptional athletic performance of racehorses needs to be better understood. Here, we identify an association of gut butyrate-producing bacteria with athletic performance in racehorses (Thoroughbred horse). Butyrate-producing bacteria and microbial butyrate synthesis genes were significantly enriched in the racehorse gut, and the GC-MS results confirmed this conclusion. Using a mouse model, we demonstrated that sodium butyrate is sufficient to increase treadmill run time performance. We also show that butyrate improves the host response to exercise, significantly altering muscle fibre type in skeletal muscle, and increasing muscle mitochondrial function and activity. In addition, in-depth analysis of the published data showed that the gene for the synthesis of butyrate was also significantly enriched in the gut microbes of human athletes. Overall, our study indicates that gut microbial butyrate improves run time via the gut-muscle axis, providing novel insights into gut microbial functions and paving the way for improving athletic performance by targeted gut microbiome manipulation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.