Population-based metagenomics analysis reveals markers for gut microbiome composition and diversity

By A. Zhernakova, A. Kurilshikov, M. Bonder, E. Tigchelaar, M. Schirmer, Tommi Vatanen, Z. Mujagic, A. V. Vila, G. Falony, Sara Vieira-Silva and 21 more. Science, 2016

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“Normal” for the gut microbiota For the benefit of future clinical studies, it is critical to establish what constitutes a “normal” gut microbiome, if it exists at all. Through fecal samples and questionnaires, Falony et al. and Zhernakova et al. targeted general populations in Belgium and the Netherlands, respectively. Gut microbiota composition correlated with a range of factors including diet, use of medication, red blood cell counts, fecal chromogranin A, and stool consistency. The data give some hints for possible biomarkers of normal gut communities. Science, this issue pp. 560 and 565 Two large-scale studies in Western Europe establish environment-diet-microbe-host interactions. Deep sequencing of the gut microbiomes of 1135 participants from a Dutch population-based cohort shows relations between the microbiome and 126 exogenous and intrinsic host factors, including 31 intrinsic factors, 12 diseases, 19 drug groups, 4 smoking categories, and 60 dietary factors. These factors collectively explain 18.7% of the variation seen in the interindividual distance of microbial composition. We could associate 110 factors to 125 species and observed that fecal chromogranin A (CgA), a protein secreted by enteroendocrine cells, was exclusively associated with 61 microbial species whose abundance collectively accounted for 53% of microbial composition. Low CgA concentrations were seen in individuals with a more diverse microbiome. These results are an important step toward a better understanding of environment-diet-microbe-host interactions.

Subfields: Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e7dbbba311092ed4b2187a140eaf0cbe81ed81d0

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Citations in the corpus

Gut Microbiota-Targeted Diets Modulate Human Immune Status (2020, neutral): “Diet has emerged as a driving factor in microbiota composition and function (Flint et al., 2017; Muegge et al., 2011; Rothschild et al., 2018; Zhernakova et al., 2016).”
Gut Microbiome: Profound Implications for Diet and Disease (2019, methodology): “and positively correlated with protective levels of HDL cholesterol [120,229].”
Improvement of Insulin Sensitivity after Lean Donor Feces in Metabolic Syndrome Is Driven by Baseline Intestinal Microbiota Composition. (2017, result): “…have supported a role for the intestinal microbiota in metabolic processes 612 Cell Metabolism 26, 611–619, October 3, 2017 (Thaiss et al., 2016; Zhernakova et al., 2016), and in accordance with our previous pilot study (Vrieze et al., 2012), we report that altering intestinal microbiota…”