Project description:The indigenous human gut microbiota is a major contributor to the human superorganism with established roles in modulating nutritional status, immunity, and systemic health including diabetes and obesity. The complexity of the gut microbiota consisting of over 1012 residents and approximately 1000 species has thus far eluded systematic analyses of the precise effects of individual microbial residents on human health. In contrast, health benefits have been shown upon ingestion of certain so-called probiotic Lactobacillus strains in food products and nutritional supplements, thereby providing a unique opportunity to study the global responses of a gut-adapted microorganism in the human gut and to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying microbial modulation of intestinal physiology, which might involve alterations in the intestinal physico-chemical environment, modifications in the gut microbiota, and/or direct interaction with mucosal epithelia and immune cells. Here we show by transcriptome analysis using DNA microarrays that the established probiotic bacterium, L. plantarum 299v, adapts its metabolic capacity in the human digestive tract for carbohydrate acquisition and expression of exo-polysaccharide and proteinaceous cell surface compounds. This report constitutes the first application of global gene expression profiling of a gut-adapted commensal microorganism in the human gut. Comparisons of the transcript profiles to those obtained for L. plantarum WCFS1 in germ-free mice revealed conserved L. plantarum responses indicative of a core transcriptome expressed in the mammalian gut and provide new molecular targets for determining microbial-host interactions affecting human health. Hybridization of the samples against a common reference of gDNA isolated from L. plantarum 299v
Project description:The Gut health in multiple joint osteoarthritis (MJOA) study leverages data from parallel community-based cohorts in humans and in pet dogs to elucidate the role of altered microbiota in MJOA. One hundred Johnston County Health Study human participants were 35 to 70 years of age at enrollment (2022-2023), self-identified as Hispanic, White, or Black, and lived in Johnston County, North Carolina. Demographic, clinical information, multiple joint radiographs, and stool samples for microbiome profiling by 16S rRNA gene sequencing were obtained from all participants. Similar data were collected from an independent group of pet dogs (N=115) from the local community, at the North Carolina State University (NCSU) College of Veterinary Medicine. The central hypothesis of the study is that intestinal permeability, with or without dysbiosis, is a major driver in the development and worsening of MJOA.
Project description:The gut microbiota plays an important role in host health. Microbiota dysbiosis has been implicated in the global epidemic of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and could impair host metabolism by noxious metabolites. It has been well established that the gut microbiota is shaped by host immune factors. However, the effect of T cells on the gut microbiota is yet unknown. Here, we performed a metagenomic whole-genome shotgun sequencing (mWGS) study of the microbiota of TCRb-/- mice, which lack alpha/beta T cells.
Project description:Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a widespread heart condition caused by atherosclerosis and influences millions of people worldwide. Early detection of CAD is challenging due to the lack of specific biomarkers. The gut microbiota and host-microbiota interactions have been well documented to affect human health. However, investigation that reveals the role of gut microbes in CAD is still limited. This study aims to uncover the synergistic effects of host genes and gut microbes associated with CAD through integrative genomic analyses.
Project description:Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a widespread heart condition caused by atherosclerosis and influences millions of people worldwide. Early detection of CAD is challenging due to the lack of specific biomarkers. The gut microbiota and host-microbiota interactions have been well documented to affect human health. However, investigation that reveals the role of gut microbes in CAD is still limited. This study aims to uncover the synergistic effects of host genes and gut microbes associated with CAD through integrative genomic analyses.
Project description:The indigenous human gut microbiota is a major contributor to the human superorganism with established roles in modulating nutritional status, immunity, and systemic health including diabetes and obesity. The complexity of the gut microbiota consisting of over 1012 residents and approximately 1000 species has thus far eluded systematic analyses of the precise effects of individual microbial residents on human health. In contrast, health benefits have been shown upon ingestion of certain so-called probiotic Lactobacillus strains in food products and nutritional supplements, thereby providing a unique opportunity to study the global responses of a gut-adapted microorganism in the human gut and to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying microbial modulation of intestinal physiology, which might involve alterations in the intestinal physico-chemical environment, modifications in the gut microbiota, and/or direct interaction with mucosal epithelia and immune cells. Here we show by transcriptome analysis using DNA microarrays that the established probiotic bacterium, L. plantarum 299v, adapts its metabolic capacity in the human digestive tract for carbohydrate acquisition and expression of exo-polysaccharide and proteinaceous cell surface compounds. This report constitutes the first application of global gene expression profiling of a gut-adapted commensal microorganism in the human gut. Comparisons of the transcript profiles to those obtained for L. plantarum WCFS1 in germ-free mice revealed conserved L. plantarum responses indicative of a core transcriptome expressed in the mammalian gut and provide new molecular targets for determining microbial-host interactions affecting human health.
Project description:This study demonstrates the usefulness of the API by generating a baseline gut microbiota profile of a healthy population and estimating reference intervals for the functional abundance of manually selected KEGG pathways. API facilitates microbiome research by providing dynamic and customizable tools for estimating reference intervals for gut microbiota functional abundances. Through the API, researchers can rapidly generate gut microbiota functional profiles of healthy populations to use as a baseline for comparison. The API also allows users to manually select specific KEGG pathways and estimate reference intervals for the functional abundance of those pathways. By generating these customized reference intervals, researchers can better understand the expected range of gut microbiota functions in healthy individuals. API enables microbiome studies to go beyond simple taxonomic profiling and delve deeper into the functional potential of gut microbiome communities. In summary, API represents a valuable tool for microbiome researchers that enhances the ability to elucidate connections between gut microbial functions and human health.
Project description:The link between human gut microbiota (a complex group of microorganisms including not only bacteria but also fungi, viruses, etc.,) and the physiological state is nowadays unquestionable. Metaproteomic has emerged as a useful technique to characterize this microbial community, not just taxonomically, but also focusing on specific biological processes carried out by gut microbiota that may have an effect in the host health or pathological state. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease in which the microbiota of the respiratory tract determines the patient's survival and differences in composition of gut microbiota of cystic fibrosis patients respect to healthy infants have been reported. In order to characterize this host-microbiota inter-relation, we carried out the metaproteomic study of 30 stool samples from infants with cystic fibrosis.
Project description:The effect of oral microbiota on the intestinal microbiota has garnered growing attention as a mechanism linking periodontal diseases to systemic diseases. However, the salivary microbiota is diverse and comprises numerous bacteria with a largely similar composition in healthy individuals and periodontitis patients. Thus, the systemic effects of small differences in the oral microbiota are unclear. In this study, we explored how health-associated and periodontitis-associated salivary microbiota differently colonized the intestine and their subsequent systemic effects by analyzing the hepatic gene expression and serum metabolomic profiles. The salivary microbiota was collected from a healthy individual and a periodontitis patient and gavaged into C57BL/6NJcl[GF] mice. Samples were collected five weeks after administration. Gut microbial communities were analyzed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Hepatic gene expression profiles were analyzed using a DNA microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Serum metabolites were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The gut microbial composition at the genus level was significantly different between periodontitis-associated microbiota-administered (PAO) and health-associated oral microbiota-administered (HAO) mice. The hepatic gene expression profile demonstrated a distinct pattern between the two groups, with higher expression of Neat1, Mt1, Mt2, and Spindlin1, which are involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Disease-associated metabolites such as 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid and hydroxybenzoic acid were elevated in PAO mice. These metabolites were significantly correlated with Bifidobacterium, Atomobium, Campylobacter, and Haemophilus, which are characteristic taxa in PAO mice. Conversely, health-associated oral microbiota were associated with higher levels of beneficial serum metabolites in HAO mice. The multi-omics approach used in this study revealed that periodontitis-associated oral microbiota is associated with the induction of disease phenotype when they colonized the gut of germ-free mice.