Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2017; 23(25): 4624-4631
Published online Jul 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i25.4624
Partners of patients with ulcerative colitis exhibit a biologically relevant dysbiosis in fecal microbial metacommunities
Guang-Lan Chen, Ye Zhang, Wang-Yue Wang, Xue-Liang Ji, Fei Meng, Pei-Song Xu, Ning-Min Yang, Fu-Qiang Ye, Xiao-Chen Bo
Guang-Lan Chen, Ye Zhang, Wang-Yue Wang, Xue-Liang Ji, Department of Gastroenterology, Lishui People’s Hospital, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China
Fei Meng, Pei-Song Xu, Ning-Min Yang, Department of Research Service, Zhiyuan Medical Inspection Institute Co., LTD, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang Province, China
Fu-Qiang Ye, Xiao-Chen Bo, Department of Radiation Toxicology and Oncology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, People’s Republic of China, Beijing 100089, China
Author contributions: Chen GL, Yang NM and Bo XC conceived the study; Zhang Y and Wang WY collected samples; Meng F and Xu PS performed the 16S rRNA sequencing; Ye FQ analyzed the data; Chen GL, Meng F and Xu PS wrote the paper; all authors contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by Lishui Science and Technology Bureau Research Fund, No. 2013JYZB43; and Medical and Health Science and Technology Plan Project of Zhejiang Province, No. 2015KYB371.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Lishui People’s Hospital.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflicts of interest exist.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Xiao-Chen Bo, Department of Radiation Toxicology and Oncology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, People’s Republic of China, No. 27, Taiping Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100089, China. boxc@bmi.ac.cn
Telephone: +86-10-66931207 Fax: +86-10-66931207
Received: February 15, 2017
Peer-review started: February 16, 2017
First decision: April 7, 2017
Revised: April 10, 2017
Accepted: May 19, 2017
Article in press: May 19, 2017
Published online: July 7, 2017
Processing time: 141 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To investigate alterations in the fecal microbiome using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing in couples in the same cohabitation environment.

METHODS

Fecal samples were collected from eight ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and their healthy partners at Lishui People’s Hospital, Zhejiang Province, China. DNA was extracted and the variable regions V3 and V4 of the 16S rRNA genes were PCR amplified using a two-step protocol. Clear reads were clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at the 97% sequence similarity level using UCLUST v1.2.22. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test (R v3.1.2) was used to compare inter-individual differences. Differences with a P value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Fecal microbial communities were more similar among UC patients than their healthy partners (P = 0.024). UC individuals had a lower relative abundance of bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes, especially Blautia, Clostridium, Coprococcus and Roseburia (P < 0.05). Microbiota dysbiosis was detected in UC patients and their healthy partners. Relevant genera included Akkermansiam, Bacteroides, Escherichia, Lactobacillales, Klebsiella and Parabacteroides. The enriched pathways in fecal samples of UC patients were related to lipid and nucleotide metabolism. Additionally, the pathways involved in membrane transport and metabolism of cofactors and vitamins were more abundant in the healthy partners.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggested that the microbial composition might be affected in healthy partners cohabiting with UC patients, especially in terms of microbiota dysbiosis.

Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; Patients; Healthy partner; Fecal microbial communities; Microbiota dysbiosis

Core tip: To identify the influence on the gut microbial community between ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and their healthy partners, we investigated the gut bacterial community using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The results showed that fecal microbial communities were more similar in UC patients, which had a lower relative abundance of Firmicutes bacteria. Microbiota dysbiosis was also founded in healthy partners. The pathways involved in lipid and nucleotide metabolism were more abundant in the UC patients. The membrane transport and metabolism of cofactors and vitamins pathways were significantly enriched in the healthy partners. Microbial composition might be affected in healthy partners cohabiting with UC patients.