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Exploring the link between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the microbiome
Author(s) -
Young Wayne,
Gearry Richard,
Cotter Paul D.,
Fraser Karl,
McNabb Warren C.,
Roy Nicole C.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.765.4
Subject(s) - irritable bowel syndrome , microbiome , roseburia , metagenomics , dysbiosis , ruminococcus , biology , diarrhea , medicine , gastroenterology , bioinformatics , genetics , lactobacillus , gene , bacteria
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder featuring chronic or recurrent abdominal discomfort, usually with changes in GI habit. However, the mechanisms responsible for IBS are poorly understood. Although alterations in the GI microbiome has been implicated in IBS, there is a lack of consensus on what the exact role of the microbiome is, and how it changes, in IBS. To gain a better understanding of the link between the microbiome and IBS, we undertook shotgun metagenomic sequencing of faecal samples from a case‐control study. The overall aim of the study was to identify microbial and metabolomic factors that provide mechanistic insights into functional GI disorders and increase the predictability of phenotypes for use in nutrition intervention studies. Faecal samples from 112 individuals with functional GI symptoms (cases) or those that were asymptomatic (controls) were shotgun sequenced using the Illumina NextSeq platform. Taxonomic classifications were determined using Metaxa2 and the SILVA 128 database. Gene functions were assigned with the MG‐RAST pipeline. Bacterial genera that discriminated case‐controls from IBS groups included Faecalibacterium , Blautia, Roseburia , Bilophila , and Streptococcus , which were relatively more abundant in certain IBS subtypes. For example, Faecalibacterium was relatively more abundant in individuals presenting with constipation associated IBS (IBS‐C; P<0.001), while Blautia was more prominent in those with the diarrhea form of IBS (IBS‐D; P=0.015). Gene functions that best separated groups included those related to carbohydrate metabolism (higher in IBS compared to case‐controls), protein metabolism, and virulence factors. Our results suggest that carbohydrate fermentation by the microbiome may be an important factor in IBS. This work shows that efforts to understand the role of the microbiome in IBS need to include consideration of microbial function rather than just microbial composition. Support or Funding Information Funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .