Abstract

Gastrointestinal tract is the main hub for microbial communities called gut microbiome that plays a vital role in biosorption of nutrients, synthesis of micronutrients and vitamins, interactions with drugs, etc. To maintain these health benefits by gut microbiome richness in the microbial diversity has to be accomplished. This type of microbial diversity is seen in tribal people which rely on dietary fibers for energy consumption. However, due to urbanization and change in the dietary pattern, microbial diversity is depleted that results in a condition called dysbiosis. This dysbiosis results in the loss of beneficial microorganisms known as probiotics. To revert the depletion of microbial diversity prebiotics can be used as an alternative approach as they selectively stimulate the growth of probiotic microorganisms. Apart from enhancing the growth of probiotics, they must be resistant to the harsh effect of digestive enzymes. The fate of prebiotics is diverse as they have many reported activities such as immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, etc. Generally, prebiotics is extracted from plant sources such as chicory and Jerusalem artichoke, etc. However, less literature is available on wild edible plants such as Dioscorea bulbifera and Dioscorea alata for their prebiotic assessment.