Structural changes in the gut microbiome of constipated patients

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2025-3-21

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

25073603

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00082.2014

URI

Authors

Zhu L, Liu W, Alkhouri R, Baker RD, Bard JE, Quigley EM, Baker SS

Journal

Physiological genomics

Year

2014

Keywords:

Prevotella, butyrate, constipation, microbiota

Previous studies using culture-based methods suggested an association between constipation and altered abundance of certain taxa of the colonic microbiome. We aim to examine the global changes in gut microbial composition of constipated patients. A cross-sectional pilot study using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing was performed to compare stool microbial composition of eight constipated patients and 14 nonconstipated controls. Only obese children were enrolled so that the microbiome features associated with constipation would not be obscured by those associated with obesity. The sequencing reads were processed by QIIME for quantitative analysis of the microbial composition at genus and above levels. Dietary intake for all the individuals was assessed by dietary recalls and a food frequency questionnaire. The ecological diversities of fecal microbiome of the constipated patients differed from those of the controls. Significantly decreased abundance in Prevotella and increased representation in several genera of Firmicutes were observed in constipated patients compared with controls. The conventional probiotic genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria were not decreased in the microbiomes of the constipated patients. These alterations in the fecal microbiome of constipated patients suggested that a novel probiotic treatment including certain Prevotella strains may be more effective than conventional probiotic products incorporating Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium species. While it is possible that the observed changes in the microbiome in constipated subjects are a consequence of a low-fiber diet, these changes also predict a different pattern of bacterial fermentation end-products, such as increased butyrate production, which may contribute to pathogenesis of constipation.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2025-3-21

Curated date: 2025/03/18

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Subjects

Location of subjects: United States of America

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Constipation Constipation,Costiveness,Dyschezia,constipation

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Control

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Constipation

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Patients diagnosed with constipation based on clinical guidelines

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 14

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 8

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): 3 months

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4-V5

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Roche454

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: Mann-Whitney (Wilcoxon); T-Test

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

Alpha Diversity

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: increased

Faith Phylogenetic diversity, takes into account phylogenetic distance of all taxa identified in a sample: unchanged

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2025/03/19

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

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Source: Table 2, Table 3, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5

Description: Abundant taxa in the gut microbiome of the constipated patients and controls

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Constipation

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Anaerotruncus
Blautia
Clostridium
Coprococcus
Lachnospiraceae
Ruminococcus
Oscillospiraceae

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Signature 2

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Curated date: 2025/03/19

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Table 2, Table 3, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5

Description: Abundant taxa in the gut microbiome of the constipated patients and controls

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Constipation

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Prevotella
Prevotellaceae
Bacteroidota

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp