Project description:The host genotype has been proposed to contribute to individually composed bacterial communities in the gut. To provide deeper insight into interactions between gut bacteria and their host, we associated germ-free C3H and C57BL/10 mice with intestinal bacteria from a C57BL/10 donor mouse. Analysis of microbiota similarity between the experimental animals with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) 13 weeks after association revealed the development of a mouse strain specific microbiota. Gene expression in the colonic mucosa was analyzed with a microarray approach taking advantage of a modified Affymetrix mouse genome chip. We detected 202 genes whose expression differed significantly by a factor of < 2. Application of bioinformatics tools demonstrated that functional terms including signaling/secretion, lipid degradation/catabolism, guanine nucleotide/guanylate binding and immune response were significantly enriched in differentially expressed genes. We had a closer look at the 56 genes with expression differences of < 4 and observed a higher expression in C57BL/10 mice of the genes coding for toll-like receptor 1 (4-fold) and angiogenin 4 (33-fold) which are involved in the recognition and response to gut bacteria. In contrast, a 70-fold higher expression of the phospholipase A2, group IIA-encoding gene (Pla2g2a) was detected in C3H mice. In addition, a number of interferon-inducible genes were higher expressed in C3H than in C57BL/10 mice including Gbp1 (18-fold), Mal (7-fold), Oasl2 (7-fold), Ifi202b (7-fold), Rtp4 (6-fold), Ly6g6c (5-fold), Ifi27l2a (5-fold), Usp18 (5-fold), Ifit1 (5-fold), Ifi44 (4-fold), and Ly6g (4-fold) indicating that these cytokines play an essential role in microbiota regulation. However, genes coding for interferons, their receptors or factors involved in interferon signaling pathways were not differentially expressed between the two mouse strains. Taken together, our study confirms that the host genotype is involved in the establishment of host-specific bacterial communities in the gut. Based on expression differences after colonization with the same bacterial inoculum, we propose that Pla2g2a and interferon-dependent genes may contribute to this phenomenon. Total RNA was extracted from the colonic mucosa and hybridization was performed using 12.5M-BM- M-bM-^@M-^SM-BM- 20M-BM- M-BM-5g of cDNA on a customized Affymetrix nugomm 1a520177 chip.

Project description:The host genotype has been proposed to contribute to individually composed bacterial communities in the gut. To provide deeper insight into interactions between gut bacteria and their host, we associated germ-free C3H and C57BL/10 mice with intestinal bacteria from a C57BL/10 donor mouse. Analysis of microbiota similarity between the experimental animals with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) 13 weeks after association revealed the development of a mouse strain specific microbiota. Gene expression in the colonic mucosa was analyzed with a microarray approach taking advantage of a modified Affymetrix mouse genome chip. We detected 202 genes whose expression differed significantly by a factor of < 2. Application of bioinformatics tools demonstrated that functional terms including signaling/secretion, lipid degradation/catabolism, guanine nucleotide/guanylate binding and immune response were significantly enriched in differentially expressed genes. We had a closer look at the 56 genes with expression differences of < 4 and observed a higher expression in C57BL/10 mice of the genes coding for toll-like receptor 1 (4-fold) and angiogenin 4 (33-fold) which are involved in the recognition and response to gut bacteria. In contrast, a 70-fold higher expression of the phospholipase A2, group IIA-encoding gene (Pla2g2a) was detected in C3H mice. In addition, a number of interferon-inducible genes were higher expressed in C3H than in C57BL/10 mice including Gbp1 (18-fold), Mal (7-fold), Oasl2 (7-fold), Ifi202b (7-fold), Rtp4 (6-fold), Ly6g6c (5-fold), Ifi27l2a (5-fold), Usp18 (5-fold), Ifit1 (5-fold), Ifi44 (4-fold), and Ly6g (4-fold) indicating that these cytokines play an essential role in microbiota regulation. However, genes coding for interferons, their receptors or factors involved in interferon signaling pathways were not differentially expressed between the two mouse strains. Taken together, our study confirms that the host genotype is involved in the establishment of host-specific bacterial communities in the gut. Based on expression differences after colonization with the same bacterial inoculum, we propose that Pla2g2a and interferon-dependent genes may contribute to this phenomenon.

Project description:<p>Emerging evidence that the gut microbiota may contribute in important ways to human health and disease has led us and others to hypothesize that both symbiotic and pathological relationships between gut microbes and their host may be key contributors to obesity and the metabolic complications of obesity. Our "Thrifty Microbiome Hypothesis" poses that gut microbiota play a key role in human energy homeostasis. Specifically, constituents of the gut microbial community may introduce a survival advantage to its host in times of nutrient scarcity, promoting positive energy balance by increasing efficiency of nutrient absorption and improving metabolic efficiency and energy storage. However, in the presence of excess nutrients, fat accretion and obesity may result, and in genetically predisposed individuals, increased fat mass may result in preferential abdominal obesity, ectopic fat deposition (liver, muscle), and metabolic complications of obesity (insulin resistance, hypertension, hyperlipidemia). Furthermore, in the presence of excess nutrients, a pathological transition of the gut microbial community may occur, causing leakage of bacterial products into the intestinal lymphatics and portal circulation, thereby inducing an inflammatory state, further aggravating metabolic syndrome traits and accelerating atherosclerosis. This pathological transition and the extent to which antimicrobial leakage occurs and causes inflammatory and other maladaptive sequelae of obesity may also be influenced by host factors, including genetics. In the proposed study, we will directly test the Thrifty Microbiome Hypothesis by performing detailed genomic and functional assessment of gut microbial communities in intensively phenotyped and genotyped human subjects before and after intentional manipulation of the gut microbiome. To address these hypotheses, five specific aims are proposed: (1) enroll three age- and sex-matched groups from the Old Order Amish: (i) 50 obese subjects (BMI > 30 kg/m2) with metabolic syndrome, (ii) 50 obese subjects (BMI > 30 kg/m2) without metabolic syndrome, and (iii) 50 non-obese subjects (BMI < 25 kg/m2) without metabolic syndrome and characterize the architecture of the gut microbiota from the subjects enrolled in this study by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes; (2) characterize the gene content (metagenome) to assess the metabolic potential of the gut microbiota in 75 subjects to determine whether particular genes or pathways are correlated with disease phenotype; (3) characterize the transcriptome in 75 subjects to determine whether differences in gene expression in the gut microbiota are correlated with disease phenotype, (4) determine the effect of manipulation of the gut microbiota with antibiotics on energy homeostasis, inflammation markers, and metabolic syndrome traits in 50 obese subjects with metabolic syndrome and (5) study the relationship between gut microbiota and metabolic and cardiovascular disease traits, weight change, and host genomics in 1,000 Amish already characterized for these traits and in whom 500K Affymetrix SNP chips have already been completed. These studies will provide our deepest understanding to date of the role of gut microbes in terms of 'who's there?', 'what are they doing?', and 'how are they influencing host energy homeostasis, obesity and its metabolic complications? PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study aims to unravel the contribution of the bacteria that normally inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract to the development of obesity, and its more severe metabolic consequences including cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and Type II diabetes. We will take a multidisciplinary approach to study changes in the structure and function of gut microbial communities in three sets of Old Order Amish patients from Lancaster, Pennsylvania: obese patients, obese patients with metabolic syndrome and non-obese individuals. The Old Order Amish are a genetically closed homogeneous Caucasian population of Central European ancestry ideal for genetic studies. These works have the potential to provide new mechanistic insights into the role of gut microflora in obesity and metabolic syndrome, a disease that is responsible for significant morbidity in the adult population, and may ultimately lead to novel approaches for prevention and treatment of this disorder.</p>

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Invertebrate gut metagenome

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