Published online Aug 10, 2016. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v7.i15.316
Peer-review started: March 18, 2016
First decision: May 19, 2016
Revised: May 26, 2016
Accepted: July 11, 2016
Article in press: July 13, 2016
Published online: August 10, 2016
Processing time: 146 Days and 0.1 Hours
AIM: To investigate the presence of total gut viral content in obese mice, and establish correlation with obesity associated metabolic measures and gut microbiome.
METHODS: Fresh fecal samples were collected from normal and obese (Leptin deficient: Lepob/ob) mice. Total viral DNA and RNA was isolated and quantified for establishing the correlation with metabolic measures and composition of gut bacterial communities.
RESULTS: In this report, we found that obese mice feces have higher viral contents in terms of total viral DNA and RNA (P < 0.001). Interestingly, these increased viral DNA and RNA content were tightly correlated with metabolic measures, i.e., body weight, fat mass and fasting blood glucose. Total viral content were positively correlated with firmicutes (R2 > 0.6), whilst negatively correlated with bacteroidetes and bifidobacteria.
CONCLUSION: This study suggests the strong correlation of increased viral population into the gut of obese mice and opens new avenues to explore the role of gut virome in pathophysiology of obesity.
Core tip: Gut microbiome is known for major constituents of bacterial population, and their association with obesity, but microbes like viruses are majorly neglected. Our investigation on the basis of hypothesis that viruses are an important part of microbial world, and found in substantial numbers into human gut, we investigated whether viral content have any correlation with obesity in mice models. Interestingly, we found that DNA and RNA viral fecal content was significantly increased in obese mice as compared to normal. This suggests that viral population may have role to regulate host metabolism and might impact obesity prevalence via alteration of gut microbiome composition. Our findings open a new area of research to explore the role of gut virome in obesity.