TY - JOUR
T1 - Schistosoma mansoni infection is associated with quantitative and qualitative modifications of the mammalian intestinal microbiota
AU - Jenkins, Timothy P.
AU - Peachey, Laura E.
AU - Ajami, Nadim J.
AU - MacDonald, Andrew S.
AU - Hsieh, Michael H.
AU - Brindley, Paul J.
AU - Cantacessi, Cinzia
AU - Rinaldi, Gabriel
N1 - Funding Information:
T.P.J. is the grateful recipient of a PhD scholarship by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the United Kingdom. The authors would like to thank Drs Hong-Bin Yan and Rafael Nacif-Pimenta for technical assistance during sample collection. Experimentally infected mice and uninfected controls were provided by the NIAID Schistosomiasis Resource Center for distribution through BEI Resources, NIH-NIAID Contract HHSN272201000005I. This study was partially supported by awards R01AI072773 (PJB) and R21AI109532 (GR) from NIAID, National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/8/13
Y1 - 2018/8/13
N2 - In spite of the extensive contribution of intestinal pathology to the pathophysiology of schistosomiasis, little is known of the impact of schistosome infection on the composition of the gut microbiota of its mammalian host. Here, we characterised the fluctuations in the composition of the gut microbial flora of the small and large intestine, as well as the changes in abundance of individual microbial species, of mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni with the goal of identifying microbial taxa with potential roles in the pathophysiology of infection and disease. Bioinformatic analyses of bacterial 16S rRNA gene data revealed an overall reduction in gut microbial alpha diversity, alongside a significant increase in microbial beta diversity characterised by expanded populations of Akkermansia muciniphila (phylum Verrucomicrobia) and lactobacilli, in the gut microbiota of S. mansoni-infected mice when compared to uninfected control animals. These data support a role of the mammalian gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of hepato-intestinal schistosomiasis and serves as a foundation for the design of mechanistic studies to unravel the complex relationships amongst parasitic helminths, gut microbiota, pathophysiology of infection and host immunity.
AB - In spite of the extensive contribution of intestinal pathology to the pathophysiology of schistosomiasis, little is known of the impact of schistosome infection on the composition of the gut microbiota of its mammalian host. Here, we characterised the fluctuations in the composition of the gut microbial flora of the small and large intestine, as well as the changes in abundance of individual microbial species, of mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni with the goal of identifying microbial taxa with potential roles in the pathophysiology of infection and disease. Bioinformatic analyses of bacterial 16S rRNA gene data revealed an overall reduction in gut microbial alpha diversity, alongside a significant increase in microbial beta diversity characterised by expanded populations of Akkermansia muciniphila (phylum Verrucomicrobia) and lactobacilli, in the gut microbiota of S. mansoni-infected mice when compared to uninfected control animals. These data support a role of the mammalian gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of hepato-intestinal schistosomiasis and serves as a foundation for the design of mechanistic studies to unravel the complex relationships amongst parasitic helminths, gut microbiota, pathophysiology of infection and host immunity.
KW - Animals
KW - Bacteroides/genetics
KW - DNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification
KW - Disease Models, Animal
KW - Female
KW - Gastrointestinal Microbiome/genetics
KW - Humans
KW - Intestines/microbiology
KW - Lactobacillus/genetics
KW - Mice
KW - RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics
KW - Schistosoma mansoni/immunology
KW - Schistosomiasis mansoni/immunology
KW - Verrucomicrobia/genetics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051639266&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-018-30412-x
DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-30412-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 30104612
AN - SCOPUS:85051639266
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 8
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 12072
ER -