Relative Abundance in Bacterial and Fungal Gut Microbes in Obese Children: A Case Control Study

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Shaimaa Elsafoury on 2021/02/09

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

27007700

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1089/chi.2015.0194

URI

Authors

Borgo F, Verduci E, Riva A, Lassandro C, Riva E, Morace G, Borghi E

Journal

Childhood obesity (Print)

Year

2017

BACKGROUND: Differences in relative proportions of gut microbial communities in adults have been correlated with intestinal diseases and obesity. In this study we evaluated the gut microbiota biodiversity, both bacterial and fungal, in obese and normal-weight school-aged children. METHODS: We studied 28 obese (mean age 10.03 ± 0.68) and 33 age- and sex-matched normal-weight children. BMI z-scores were calculated, and the obesity condition was defined according to the WHO criteria. Fecal samples were analyzed by 16S rRNA amplification followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis and sequencing. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to quantify the most representative microbial species and genera. RESULTS: DGGE profiles showed high bacterial biodiversity without significant correlations with BMI z-score groups. Compared to bacterial profiles, we observed lower richness in yeast species. Sequence of the most representative bands gave back Eubacterium rectale, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, and C. glabrata as present in all samples. Debaryomyces hansenii was present only in two obese children. Obese children revealed a significantly lower abundance in Akkermansia muciniphyla, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Bacteroides/Prevotella group, Candida spp., and Saccharomyces spp. (P = 0.031, P = 0.044, P = 0.003, P = 0.047, and P = 0.034, respectively). CONCLUSION: Taking into account the complexity of obesity, our data suggest that differences in relative abundance of some core microbial species, preexisting or diet driven, could actively be part of its etiology. This study improved our knowledge about the fungal population in the pediatric school-age population and highlighted the need to consider the influence of cross-kingdom relationships.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Shaimaa Elsafoury on 2021/02/09

Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: WikiWorks

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks

Subjects

Location of subjects: Italy

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled (if applicable): 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

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: obesity Adiposis,Adiposity,Obese,Obese (finding),obesity,Obesity (disorder),Obesity [Ambiguous],obesity disease,obesity disorder,Obesity NOS,Obesity, unspecified,Overweight and obesity

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: controls
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: pediatric obese
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 33
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 28
Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): previous month

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V2-V3

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: RT-qPCR

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test: Mann-Whitney (Wilcoxon)

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
Matched on Factors on which subjects have been matched on in a case-control study: age, sex