Project description:On going efforts are directed at understanding the mutualism between the gut microbiota and the host in breast-fed versus formula-fed infants. Due to the lack of tissue biopsies, no investigators have performed a global transcriptional (gene expression) analysis of the developing human intestine in healthy infants. As a result, the crosstalk between the microbiome and the host transcriptome in the developing mucosal-commensal environment has not been determined. In this study, we examined the host intestinal mRNA gene expression and microbial DNA profiles in full term 3 month-old infants exclusively formula fed (FF) (n=6) or breast fed (BF) (n=6) from birth to 3 months. Host mRNA microarray measurements were performed using isolated intact sloughed epithelial cells in stool samples collected at 3 months. Microbial composition from the same stool samples was assessed by metagenomic pyrosequencing. Both the host mRNA expression and bacterial microbiome phylogenetic profiles provided strong feature sets that clearly classified the two groups of babies (FF and BF). To determine the relationship between host epithelial cell gene expression and the bacterial colony profiles, the host transcriptome and functionally profiled microbiome data were analyzed in a multivariate manner. From a functional perspective, analysis of the gut microbiota's metagenome revealed that characteristics associated with virulence differed between the FF and BF babies. Using canonical correlation analysis, evidence of multivariate structure relating eleven host immunity / mucosal defense-related genes and microbiome virulence characteristics was observed. These results, for the first time, provide insight into the integrated responses of the host and microbiome to dietary substrates in the early neonatal period. Our data suggest that systems biology and computational modeling approaches that integrate “-omic” information from the host and the microbiome can identify important mechanistic pathways of intestinal development affecting the gut microbiome in the first few months of life. KEYWORDS: infant, breast-feeding, infant formula, exfoliated cells, transcriptome, metagenome, multivariate analysis, canonical correlation analysis 12 samples, 2 groups
Project description:Dysbiotic configurations of the human gut microbiota have been linked with colorectal cancer (CRC). Human small non-coding RNAs are also implicated in CRC and recent findings suggest that their release in the gut lumen contributes to shape the gut microbiota. Bacterial small RNAs (bsRNAs) may also play a role in carcinogenesis but their role is less explored. Here, we performed small RNA and shotgun sequencing on 80 stool specimens of patients with CRC, or adenomas, and healthy subjects collected in a cross-sectional study to evaluate their combined use as a predictive tool for disease detection. We reported a considerable overlap and correlation between metagenomic and bsRNA quantitative taxonomic profiles obtained from the two approaches. Furthermore, we identified a combined predictive signature composed by 32 features from human and microbial small RNAs and DNA-based microbiome able to accurately classify CRC from healthy and adenoma samples (AUC= 0.87). In summary we reported evidence that host-microbiome dysbiosis in CRC can be observed also by altered small RNA stool profiles. Integrated analyses of the microbiome and small RNAs in the human stool may provide insights for designing more accurate tools for diagnostic purposes.
Project description:Aging is associated with declining immunity and inflammation as well as alterations in the gut microbiome with a decrease of beneficial microbes and increase in pathogenic ones. The aim of this study was to investigate aging associated gut microbiome in relation to immunologic and metabolic profile in a non-human primate (NHP) model. 12 old (age>18 years) and 4 young (age 3-6 years) Rhesus macaques were included in this study. Immune cell subsets were characterized in PBMC by flow cytometry and plasma cytokines levels were determined by bead based multiplex cytokine analysis. Stool samples were collected by ileal loop and investigated for microbiome analysis by shotgun metagenomics. Serum, gut microbial lysate and microbe-free fecal extract were subjected to metabolomic analysis by mass-spectrometry. Our results showed that the old animals exhibited higher inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and lower CD4 T cells with altered distribution of naïve and memory T cell maturation subsets. The gut microbiome in old animals had higher abundance of Archaeal and Proteobacterial species and lower Firmicutes than the young. Significant enrichment of metabolites that contribute to inflammatory and cytotoxic pathways was observed in serum and feces of old animals compared to the young. We conclude that aging NHP undergo immunosenescence and age associated alterations in the gut microbiome that has a distinct metabolic profile.
Project description:The gut microbiome is significantly altered in inflammatory bowel diseases, but the basis of these changes is not well understood. We have combined metagenomic and metatranscriptomic profiling of the gut microbiome to assess changes to both bacterial community structure and transcriptional activity in a mouse model of colitis. Gene families involved in microbial resistance to oxidative stress, including Dps/ferritin, Fe-dependent peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase, were transcriptionally up-regulated in colitis, implicating a role for increased oxygen tension in gut microbiota modulation. Transcriptional profiling of the host gut tissue and host RNA in the gut lumen revealed a marked increase in the transcription of genes with an activated macrophage and granulocyte signature, suggesting the involvement of these cell types in influencing microbial gene expression. Down-regulation of host glycosylation genes further supports a role for inflammation-driven changes to the gut niche that may impact the microbiome. We propose that members of the bacterial community react to inflammation-associated increased oxygen tension by inducing genes involved in oxidative stress resistance. Furthermore, correlated transcriptional responses between host glycosylation and bacterial glycan utilisation support a role for altered usage of host-derived carbohydrates in colitis. Complementary transcription profiling data from the mouse hosts have also been deposited at ArrayExpress under accession number E-MTAB-3590 ( http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-3590/ ).
Project description:On going efforts are directed at understanding the mutualism between the gut microbiota and the host in breast-fed versus formula-fed infants. Due to the lack of tissue biopsies, no investigators have performed a global transcriptional (gene expression) analysis of the developing human intestine in healthy infants. As a result, the crosstalk between the microbiome and the host transcriptome in the developing mucosal-commensal environment has not been determined. In this study, we examined the host intestinal mRNA gene expression and microbial DNA profiles in full term 3 month-old infants exclusively formula fed (FF) (n=6) or breast fed (BF) (n=6) from birth to 3 months. Host mRNA microarray measurements were performed using isolated intact sloughed epithelial cells in stool samples collected at 3 months. Microbial composition from the same stool samples was assessed by metagenomic pyrosequencing. Both the host mRNA expression and bacterial microbiome phylogenetic profiles provided strong feature sets that clearly classified the two groups of babies (FF and BF). To determine the relationship between host epithelial cell gene expression and the bacterial colony profiles, the host transcriptome and functionally profiled microbiome data were analyzed in a multivariate manner. From a functional perspective, analysis of the gut microbiota's metagenome revealed that characteristics associated with virulence differed between the FF and BF babies. Using canonical correlation analysis, evidence of multivariate structure relating eleven host immunity / mucosal defense-related genes and microbiome virulence characteristics was observed. These results, for the first time, provide insight into the integrated responses of the host and microbiome to dietary substrates in the early neonatal period. Our data suggest that systems biology and computational modeling approaches that integrate “-omic” information from the host and the microbiome can identify important mechanistic pathways of intestinal development affecting the gut microbiome in the first few months of life. KEYWORDS: infant, breast-feeding, infant formula, exfoliated cells, transcriptome, metagenome, multivariate analysis, canonical correlation analysis
Project description:Morphine and its pharmacological derivatives are the most prescribed analgesics for moderate to severe pain management. However, chronic use of morphine reduces pathogen clearance and induces bacterial translocation across the gut barrier. The enteric microbiome has been shown to play a critical role in the preservation of the mucosal barrier function and metabolic homeostasis. Here, we show for the first time, using bacterial 16s rDNA sequencing, that chronic morphine treatment significantly alters the gut microbial composition and induces preferential expansion of the gram-positive pathogenic and reduction of bile-deconjugating bacterial strains. A significant reduction in both primary and secondary bile acid levels was seen in the gut, but not in the liver with morphine treatment. Morphine induced microbial dysbiosis and gut barrier disruption was rescued by transplanting placebo-treated microbiota into morphine-treated animals, indicating that microbiome modulation could be exploited as a therapeutic strategy for patients using morphine for pain management. In this study, we establish a link between the two phenomena, namely gut barrier compromise and dysregulated bile acid metabolism. We show for the first time that morphine fosters significant gut microbial dysbiosis and disrupts cholesterol/bile acid metabolism. Changes in the gut microbial composition is strongly correlated to disruption in host inflammatory homeostasis13,14 and in many diseases (e.g. cancer/HIV infection), persistent inflammation is known to aid and promote the progression of the primary morbidity. We show here that chronic morphine, gut microbial dysbiosis, disruption of cholesterol/bile acid metabolism and gut inflammation; have a linear correlation. This opens up the prospect of devising minimally invasive adjunct treatment strategies involving microbiome and bile acid modulation and thus bringing down morphine-mediated inflammation in the host.
Project description:Hundreds of microbial species were found to be transcriptionally active in the human gut microbiome based on the expression profiling of ca. 680.000 microbial genes As a part of the MetaHIT cohort 233 human stool samples were transcriptionally profiled using a custom made microarray that included probes for most prevalent microbial genes in the cohort as established by whole-genome sequencing of the same samples
Project description:Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC) is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer death. Despite many patients achieving remission with first-line therapy, up to 80% of patients will recur and require additional treatment. Retrospective clinical analysis of OC patients indicates antibiotic use during chemotherapy treatment is associated with poor overall survival. We assessed whether antibiotic (ABX) therapy would impact growth of EOC and sensitivity to cisplatin in murine models. Immune competent or compromised mice were given control or ABX containing water (metronidazole, ampicillin, vancomycin, and neomycin) before being intraperitoneally injected with murine EOC cells. Stool was collected to confirm microbiome disruption and tumors were monitored, and cisplatin therapy was administered weekly until endpoint. EOC tumor-bearing mice demonstrate accelerated tumor growth and resistance to cisplatin therapy in ABX treated compared with nonABX treatment. Stool analysis indicated most gut microbial species were disrupted by ABX treatment except for ABX resistant bacteria. To test for role of the gut microbiome, cecal microbiome transplants (CMTs) of microbiota derived from ABX or nonABX treated mice were used to recolonize the microbiome of ABX treated mice. nonABX cecal microbiome was sufficient to ameliorate the chemoresistance and survival of ABX treated mice indicative of a gut derived tumor suppressor. Mechanistically, tumors from ABX treated compared to nonABX treated mice contained a high frequency of cancer stem cells that were augmented by cisplatin. These studies indicate an intact microbiome provides a gut derived tumor suppressor and maintains chemosensitivity that is disrupted by ABX treatment.
Project description:The gut microbiome is significantly altered in inflammatory bowel diseases, but the basis of these changes is not well understood. We have combined metagenomic and metatranscriptomic profiling of the gut microbiome to assess changes to both bacterial community structure and transcriptional activity in a mouse model of colitis. Gene families involved in microbial resistance to oxidative stress, including Dps/ferritin, Fe-dependent peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase, were transcriptionally up-regulated in colitis, implicating a role for increased oxygen tension in gut microbiota modulation. Transcriptional profiling of the host gut tissue and host RNA in the gut lumen revealed a marked increase in the transcription of genes with an activated macrophage and granulocyte signature, suggesting the involvement of these cell types in influencing microbial gene expression. Down-regulation of host glycosylation genes further supports a role for inflammation-driven changes to the gut niche that may impact the microbiome. We propose that members of the bacterial community react to inflammation-associated increased oxygen tension by inducing genes involved in oxidative stress resistance. Furthermore, correlated transcriptional responses between host glycosylation and bacterial glycan utilisation support a role for altered usage of host-derived carbohydrates in colitis. Complementary RNA-seq and DNA-seq data sets of the microbiome from this study have also been deposited at ArrayExpress under accession number E-MTAB-3562 ( http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-3562/ ).