Project description:Gut microbiome research is rapidly moving towards the functional characterization of the microbiota by means of shotgun meta-omics. Here, we selected a cohort of healthy subjects from an indigenous and monitored Sardinian population to analyze their gut microbiota using both shotgun metagenomics and shotgun metaproteomics. We found a considerable divergence between genetic potential and functional activity of the human healthy gut microbiota, in spite of a quite comparable taxonomic structure revealed by the two approaches. Investigation of inter-individual variability of taxonomic features revealed Bacteroides and Akkermansia as remarkably conserved and variable in abundance within the population, respectively. Firmicutes-driven butyrogenesis (mainly due to Faecalibacterium spp.) was shown to be the functional activity with the higher expression rate and the lower inter-individual variability in the study cohort, highlighting the key importance of the biosynthesis of this microbial by-product for the gut homeostasis. The taxon-specific contribution to functional activities and metabolic tasks was also examined, giving insights into the peculiar role of several gut microbiota members in carbohydrate metabolism (including polysaccharide degradation, glycan transport, glycolysis and short-chain fatty acid production). In conclusion, our results provide useful indications regarding the main functions actively exerted by the gut microbiota members of a healthy human cohort, and support metaproteomics as a valuable approach to investigate the functional role of the gut microbiota in health and disease.

2017-07-19 | PXD005780 | Pride

RNA profiling of the liver and gut tissues in zebrafish (Danio rerio) [miRNA]

Project description:Compared to other fish models, miRNAs are currently most extensively studied and identified in zebrafish. Approximately 415 dre-miRNAs have been identified and several articles have studied some aspect of miRNA function in zebrafish such as their role in basic development and in disease pathways. However, this field of research is in its infancy and the function of several dre-miRNAs, as well as their tissue-specific expression profile, are yet to be defined. In this study, the liver and gut were dissected (wildtype/untreated fish), total and small RNA were extracted, mRNA and miRNA libraries constructed and subjected to high throughput sequencing (HTS) using standard approaches. We carried out differential expression (DE) analysis and compared liver miRNA expression to gut using established bioinformatics pipelines. Through bioinformatics analysis, known and putative novel miRNAs were identified. Finally, we constructed a “miRNA matrix” that connects both total RNA-Seq and miRNA-Seq.

2018-12-26 | GSE108436 | GEO

Gut metagenome/FINRISK 2002 (Salosensaari et al. Nature Comms 2021)

Project description:The main goal of the project is the study the associations between the gut metagenome and human health. The dataset contains data for n=7211 FINRISK 2002 participants who underwent fecal sampling. Demultiplexed shallow shotgun metagenomic sequences were quality filtered and adapter trimmed using Atropos (Didion et al., 2017), and human filtered using Bowtie2 (Langmead and Salzberg, 2012).

| EGAS00001005020 | EGA

Gut metagenome/FR 2002 (Salosensaari et al. Nature Comms 2021)

| EGAS00001005038 | EGA

Transcriptomic signatures of telomerase-dependent and -independent ageing, un the zebrafish gut and brain

Project description:Telomerase is best known for its role in the maintenance of telomere length and its implications for ageing and cancer. The mechanisms, kinetics and tissue-specificity underlying the protective or deleterious mechanisms of telomerase, however, remain largely unknown. Here, we sought to determine the telomerase-dependent and -independent transcriptomic changes with ageing, in the gut and brain, as examples of high and low proliferative tissues, respectively. We hypothesised this could shed light on common telomerase-dependent and -independent therapeutic targets aimed at preventing or ameliorating age-associated dysfunction in both tissues. For this, we used the zebrafish model which, similarly to humans, depends on telomerase for health- and life-span. We performed whole tissue RNA sequencing of gut and brain, in naturally aged zebrafish alongside prematurely aged telomerase null mutants (tert-/-), throughout their lifespan. Our study highlights stem cell exhaustion as the first main hallmark of ageing to be de-regulated in WT zebrafish gut and brain. Towards the end of life, altered intercellular communication becomes the main hallmark of ageing de-regulated in both gut and brain, and this is accelerated in both tissues, in the absence of telomerase. Finally, we identify 7 key gene changes common between the gut and brain at the early stages of ageing, highlighting potential early intervention therapeutic targets for preventing age-associated dysfunction in both tissues.

2022-06-09 | GSE205601 | GEO

Gut microbes from zebrafish

Project description:Gut microbes from zebrafish Genome sequencing

| PRJNA1033219 | ENA

fish gut metagenome

Project description:Zebrafish gut metagenome Targeted Locus (Loci)

| PRJNA313944 | ENA