Jenkins Timothy P, Rathnayaka Yasara, Perera Piyumali K, Peachey Laura E, Nolan Matthew J, Krause Lutz, Rajakaruna Rupika S, Cantacessi Cinzia
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Department of Zoology, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
PLoS One. 2017 Sep 11;12(9):e0184719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184719. eCollection 2017.
Investigations of the impact that patent infections by soil-transmitted gastrointestinal nematode parasites exert on the composition of the host gut commensal flora are attracting growing interest by the scientific community. However, information collected to date varies across experiments, and further studies are needed to identify consistent relationships between parasites and commensal microbial species. Here, we explore the qualitative and quantitative differences between the microbial community profiles of cohorts of human volunteers from Sri Lanka with patent infection by one or more parasitic nematode species (H+), as well as that of uninfected subjects (H-) and of volunteers who had been subjected to regular prophylactic anthelmintic treatment (Ht). High-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, followed by bioinformatics and biostatistical analyses of sequence data revealed no significant differences in alpha diversity (Shannon) and richness between groups (P = 0.65, P = 0.13 respectively); however, beta diversity was significantly increased in H+ and Ht when individually compared to H-volunteers (P = 0.04). Among others, bacteria of the families Verrucomicrobiaceae and Enterobacteriaceae showed a trend towards increased abundance in H+, whereas the Leuconostocaceae and Bacteroidaceae showed a relative increase in H- and Ht respectively. Our findings add valuable knowledge to the vast, and yet little explored, research field of parasite-microbiota interactions and will provide a basis for the elucidation of the role such interactions play in pathogenic and immune-modulatory properties of parasitic nematodes in both human and animal hosts.
土壤传播的胃肠道线虫寄生虫的显性感染对宿主肠道共生菌群组成的影响研究正吸引着科学界越来越多的关注。然而，迄今为止收集到的信息在不同实验中存在差异，需要进一步研究以确定寄生虫与共生微生物物种之间的一致关系。在此，我们探讨了来自斯里兰卡的人类志愿者队列中，感染一种或多种寄生线虫物种（H+）的显性感染人群、未感染人群（H-）以及接受定期预防性驱虫治疗的志愿者（Ht）的微生物群落谱在定性和定量方面的差异。对细菌16S rRNA基因进行高通量测序，随后对序列数据进行生物信息学和生物统计学分析，结果显示各组之间的α多样性（香农指数）和丰富度没有显著差异（分别为P = 0.65，P = 0.13）；然而，与H-志愿者单独比较时，H+和Ht组的β多样性显著增加（P = 0.04）。其中，疣微菌科和肠杆菌科细菌在H+组中呈现丰度增加的趋势，而明串珠菌科和拟杆菌科分别在H-组和Ht组中相对增加。我们的研究结果为寄生虫 - 微生物群相互作用这一广阔但尚未充分探索的研究领域增添了有价值的知识，并将为阐明此类相互作用在人类和动物宿主中寄生线虫的致病和免疫调节特性中所起的作用提供基础。
