Mater Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, Queensland 4102, Australia; Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Queensland 4068, Australia.
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Queensland 4068, Australia.
Cell. 2021 Nov 24;184(24):5916-5931.e17. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.10.015. Epub 2021 Nov 11.
There is increasing interest in the potential contribution of the gut microbiome to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous studies have been underpowered and have not been designed to address potential confounding factors in a comprehensive way. We performed a large autism stool metagenomics study (n = 247) based on participants from the Australian Autism Biobank and the Queensland Twin Adolescent Brain project. We found negligible direct associations between ASD diagnosis and the gut microbiome. Instead, our data support a model whereby ASD-related restricted interests are associated with less-diverse diet, and in turn reduced microbial taxonomic diversity and looser stool consistency. In contrast to ASD diagnosis, our dataset was well powered to detect microbiome associations with traits such as age, dietary intake, and stool consistency. Overall, microbiome differences in ASD may reflect dietary preferences that relate to diagnostic features, and we caution against claims that the microbiome has a driving role in ASD.
人们越来越关注肠道微生物组对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的潜在贡献。然而，先前的研究力度不足，并且没有以全面的方式解决潜在的混杂因素。我们对来自澳大利亚自闭症生物库和昆士兰双胞胎青少年大脑项目的参与者进行了一项大型自闭症粪便宏基因组学研究（n=247）。我们发现 ASD 诊断与肠道微生物组之间几乎没有直接关联。相反，我们的数据支持这样一种模式，即与 ASD 相关的受限兴趣与饮食多样性较低有关，进而导致微生物分类多样性减少和粪便一致性变松。与 ASD 诊断不同的是，我们的数据集有足够的能力来检测与年龄、饮食摄入和粪便一致性等特征相关的微生物组关联。总的来说，ASD 中的微生物组差异可能反映了与诊断特征相关的饮食偏好，我们警告不要声称微生物组在 ASD 中起主导作用。
