scholarly journals Measuring the gut microbiome in birds: comparison of faecal and cloacal sampling

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Videvall ◽  
Maria Strandh ◽  
Anel Engelbrecht ◽  
Schalk Cloete ◽  
Charlie K. Cornwallis
Keyword(s):  
Gastrointestinal Tract ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Faecal Samples ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractThe gut microbiomes of birds and other animals are increasingly being studied in ecological and evolutionary contexts. While methods for preserving samples and processing high-throughput sequence data to characterise bacterial communities have received considerable attention, there has been little evaluation of non-invasive sampling methods. Numerous studies on birds and reptiles have made inferences about gut microbiota using cloacal sampling, however, it is not known whether the bacterial community of the cloaca provides an accurate representation of the avian gut microbiome. We examined the accuracy with which cloacal swabs and faecal samples measure the microbiota in three different parts of the gastrointestinal tract (ileum, caecum, and colon) using a case study on juvenile ostriches,Struthio camelus, and high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing. We found that faeces were significantly better than cloacal swabs in representing the bacterial community of the colon. Cloacal samples had a higher abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and fewer Clostridia relative to the gut and faecal samples. However, both faecal and cloacal samples were poor representatives of the microbial communities in the caecum and ileum. Furthermore, the accuracy of the sampling methods in measuring the abundance of different bacterial taxa was highly variable: Bacteroidetes was the most highly correlated phylum between all three gut sections and both methods, whereas colonic Actinobacteria correlated strongly only with faecal samples. This study demonstrates that sampling methods can have significant effects on the inferred gut microbiome in studies of birds. Based on our results, we recommend sampling faeces, whenever possible, as this provides the most accurate assessment of the colon microbiome. The fact that neither sampling technique portrayed the bacterial community of the ileum or the caecum illustrates the difficulty in non-invasively monitoring gut bacteria located further up in the gastrointestinal tract. These results have important implications for the interpretation of avian gut microbiome studies.

scholarly journals Gut microbiome analysis as a tool towards targeted non-invasive biomarkers for early hepatocellular carcinoma

Gut ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1014-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhigang Ren ◽  
Ang Li ◽  
Jianwen Jiang ◽  
Lin Zhou ◽  
Zujiang Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Cross Validation ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Central China ◽  
Advanced Hcc ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Faecal Samples ◽  
Early Hcc

ObjectiveTo characterise gut microbiome in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and evaluate the potential of microbiome as non-invasive biomarkers for HCC.DesignWe collected 486 faecal samples from East China, Central China and Northwest China prospectively and finally 419 samples completed Miseq sequencing. We characterised gut microbiome, identified microbial markers and constructed HCC classifier in 75 early HCC, 40 cirrhosis and 75 healthy controls. We validated the results in 56 controls, 30 early HCC and 45 advanced HCC. We further verified diagnosis potential in 18 HCC from Xinjiang and 80 HCC from Zhengzhou.ResultsFaecal microbial diversity was increased from cirrhosis to early HCC with cirrhosis. Phylum Actinobacteria was increased in early HCC versus cirrhosis. Correspondingly, 13 genera including Gemmiger and Parabacteroides were enriched in early HCC versus cirrhosis. Butyrate-producing genera were decreased, while genera producing-lipopolysaccharide were increased in early HCC versus controls. The optimal 30 microbial markers were identified through a fivefold cross-validation on a random forest model and achieved an area under the curve of 80.64% between 75 early HCC and 105 non-HCC samples. Notably, gut microbial markers validated strong diagnosis potential for early HCC and even advanced HCC. Importantly, microbial markers successfully achieved a cross-region validation of HCC from Northwest China and Central China.ConclusionsThis study is the first to characterise gut microbiome in patients with HCC and to report the successful diagnosis model establishment and cross-region validation of microbial markers for HCC. Gut microbiota-targeted biomarkers represent potential non-invasive tools for early diagnosis of HCC.

The Host Genotype Affects the Bacterial Community in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin G. Zoetendal ◽  
Antoon D. L. Akkermans ◽  
Wilma M. Akkermans-van Vliet ◽  
J. Arjan G. M. De Visser ◽  
Willem M. De Vos
Keyword(s):  
Gastrointestinal Tract ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Human Gastrointestinal Tract ◽  
Host Genotype

scholarly journals Taxonomic signatures of cause-specific mortality risk in human gut microbiome

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaro Salosensaari ◽  
Ville Laitinen ◽  
Aki S. Havulinna ◽  
Guillaume Meric ◽  
Susan Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Risk ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Microbiome Composition ◽  
Human Gut Microbiome ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Sequencing Technologies

AbstractThe collection of fecal material and developments in sequencing technologies have enabled standardised and non-invasive gut microbiome profiling. Microbiome composition from several large cohorts have been cross-sectionally linked to various lifestyle factors and diseases. In spite of these advances, prospective associations between microbiome composition and health have remained uncharacterised due to the lack of sufficiently large and representative population cohorts with comprehensive follow-up data. Here, we analyse the long-term association between gut microbiome variation and mortality in a well-phenotyped and representative population cohort from Finland (n = 7211). We report robust taxonomic and functional microbiome signatures related to the Enterobacteriaceae family that are associated with mortality risk during a 15-year follow-up. Our results extend previous cross-sectional studies, and help to establish the basis for examining long-term associations between human gut microbiome composition, incident outcomes, and general health status.

scholarly journals Bacterial community structure alterations within the colorectal cancer gut microbiome

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Loftus ◽  
Sayf Al-Deen Hassouneh ◽  
Shibu Yooseph
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Bacterial Community Structure ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Fecal Samples ◽  
Human Gut Microbiome

Abstract Background Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The human gut microbiome has become an active area of research for understanding the initiation, progression, and treatment of colorectal cancer. Despite multiple studies having found significant alterations in the carriage of specific bacteria within the gut microbiome of colorectal cancer patients, no single bacterium has been unequivocally connected to all cases. Whether alterations in species carriages are the cause or outcome of cancer formation is still unclear, but what is clear is that focus should be placed on understanding changes to the bacterial community structure within the cancer-associated gut microbiome. Results By applying a novel set of analyses on 252 previously published whole-genome shotgun sequenced fecal samples from healthy and late-stage colorectal cancer subjects, we identify taxonomic, functional, and structural changes within the cancer-associated human gut microbiome. Bacterial association networks constructed from these data exhibited widespread differences in the underlying bacterial community structure between healthy and colorectal cancer associated gut microbiomes. Within the cancer-associated ecosystem, bacterial species were found to form associations with other species that are taxonomically and functionally dissimilar to themselves, as well as form modules functionally geared towards potential changes in the tumor-associated ecosystem. Bacterial community profiling of these samples revealed a significant increase in species diversity within the cancer-associated gut microbiome, and an elevated relative abundance of species classified as originating from the oral microbiome including, but not limited to, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Peptostreptococcus stomatis, Gemella morbillorum, and Parvimonas micra. Differential abundance analyses of community functional capabilities revealed an elevation in functions linked to virulence factors and peptide degradation, and a reduction in functions involved in amino-acid biosynthesis within the colorectal cancer gut microbiome. Conclusions We utilize whole-genome shotgun sequenced fecal samples provided from a large cohort of late-stage colorectal cancer and healthy subjects to identify a number of potentially important taxonomic, functional, and structural alterations occurring within the colorectal cancer associated gut microbiome. Our analyses indicate that the cancer-associated ecosystem influences bacterial partner selection in the native microbiota, and we highlight specific oral bacteria and their associations as potentially relevant towards aiding tumor progression.

scholarly journals Non-Invasive Molecular Survey of Sarcoptic Mange in Wildlife: Diagnostic Performance in Wolf Faecal Samples Evaluated by Multi-Event Capture–Recapture Models

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 243
Author(s):  
Julieta Rousseau ◽  
Mónia Nakamura ◽  
Helena Rio-Maior ◽  
Francisco Álvares ◽  
Rémi Choquet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Detection ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
Sarcoptes Scabiei ◽  
Sarcoptic Mange ◽  
Diagnostic Specificity ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Faecal Samples ◽  
Capture Recapture ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Event Capture

Sarcoptic mange is globally enzootic, and non-invasive methods with high diagnostic specificity for its surveillance in wildlife are lacking. We describe the molecular detection of Sarcoptes scabiei in non-invasively collected faecal samples, targeting the 16S rDNA gene. We applied this method to 843 Iberian wolf Canis lupus signatus faecal samples collected in north-western Portugal (2006–2018). We further integrated this with serological data (61 samples from wolf and 20 from red fox Vulpes vulpes, 1997–2019) in multi-event capture–recapture models. The mean predicted prevalence by the molecular analysis of wolf faecal samples from 2006–2018 was 7.2% (CI95 5.0–9.4%; range: 2.6–11.7%), highest in 2009. The mean predicted seroprevalence in wolves was 24.5% (CI95 18.5–30.6%; range: 13.0–55.0%), peaking in 2006–2009. Multi-event capture–recapture models estimated 100% diagnostic specificity and moderate diagnostic sensitivity (30.0%, CI95 14.0–53.0%) for the molecular method. Mange-infected individually identified wolves showed a tendency for higher mortality versus uninfected wolves (ΔMortality 0.150, CI95 −0.165–0.458). Long-term serology data highlights the endemicity of sarcoptic mange in wild canids but uncovers multi-year epidemics. This study developed and evaluated a novel method for surveying sarcoptic mange in wildlife populations by the molecular detection of S. scabiei in faecal samples, which stands out for its high specificity and non-invasive character.

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