Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
Gut Microbes. 2021 Jan-Dec;13(1):1-15. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2021.1926840.
To investigate the relationship between intestinal microbiota and SARS-CoV-2-mediated pathogenicity in a United States, majority African American cohort. We prospectively collected fecal samples from 50 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, 9 SARS-CoV-2 recovered patients, and 34 uninfected subjects seen by the hospital with unrelated respiratory medical conditions (controls). 16S rRNA sequencing and qPCR analysis was performed on fecal DNA/RNA. The fecal microbial composition was found to be significantly different between SARS-CoV-2 patients and controls (PERMANOVA FDR- = .004), independent of antibiotic exposure. and were identified as the three most significantly enriched genera in COVID-19 patients compared to controls. Actively infected patients were also found to have a different gut microbiota than recovered patients (PERMANOVA FDR- = .003), and the most enriched genus in infected patients was , with and being enriched in the recovered patients. No difference in microbial community structure between recovered patients and uninfected controls was observed, nor a difference in alpha diversity between the three groups. 24 of the 50 COVID-19 patients (48%) tested positive via RT-qPCR for fecal SARS-CoV-2 RNA. A significant difference in gut microbial composition between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative samples was observed, with and being enriched in the positive cohort. No significant associations between microbiome composition and disease severity was found. The intestinal microbiota is sensitive to the presence of SARS-CoV-2, with increased relative abundance of genera () associated with gastrointestinal (GI) disease. Further studies are needed to investigate the functional impact of SARS-CoV-2 on GI health.
为了研究肠道微生物群与美国以非裔美国人为主的 SARS-CoV-2 介导的致病性之间的关系。我们前瞻性地收集了 50 例 SARS-CoV-2 感染患者、9 例 SARS-CoV-2 康复患者和 34 例因呼吸道疾病就诊但与 SARS-CoV-2 无关的未感染患者（对照组）的粪便样本。对粪便 DNA/RNA 进行 16S rRNA 测序和 qPCR 分析。结果发现，SARS-CoV-2 患者和对照组的粪便微生物组成存在显著差异（PERMANOVA FDR-=0.004），与抗生素暴露无关。与对照组相比，COVID-19 患者中被鉴定为显著富集的三个属是、和。活跃感染的患者与康复患者的肠道微生物群也存在差异（PERMANOVA FDR-=0.003），感染患者中最富集的属是，康复患者中富集的属是和。在康复患者和未感染对照组之间未观察到微生物群落结构的差异，三组之间的 alpha 多样性也没有差异。50 例 COVID-19 患者中有 24 例（48%）通过 RT-qPCR 检测粪便 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 呈阳性。在 SARS-CoV-2 阳性和阴性样本中观察到肠道微生物组成的显著差异，阳性队列中富集了和。未发现微生物群落组成与疾病严重程度之间存在显著相关性。肠道微生物群对 SARS-CoV-2 的存在敏感，与胃肠道（GI）疾病相关的属（、和）相对丰度增加。需要进一步研究来调查 SARS-CoV-2 对 GI 健康的功能影响。
