Differential human gut microbiome assemblages during soil transmitted helminth infections
Rosa B. et al (submitted)

Project Summary
The human intestine and its complex microbiota is the most common infection site for soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) which affect the well-being of ~1.5 billion people worldwide. The complex cross-kingdom interactions are not well understood. In this study, cross-sectional analysis identified conserved microbial signatures positively or negatively associated with STH infections across Liberia and Indonesia and longitudinal samples analysis from a double-blind randomized trial showed that the gut microbiota responds to deworming but does not transition closer to the uninfected state. The microbiomes of individuals able to self-clear the infection had more alike microbiome assemblages compared to individuals who remained infected. Microbial community gene abundances were also affected by deworming. Among functional categories identified as associated with STH infection was arachidonic acid metabolism; arachidonic acid is the precursor for pro-inflammatory leukotrienes that threaten helminth survival, and here, we present the first evidence that some modulation of arachidonic acid activity in the STH-infected gut occurs through the increase of arachidonic acid metabolizing bacteria. These findings will help guide development of affordable microbiome driven intervention for sustainable STH control.

Resources

Metadata and read counts per taxa for 98 16s samples from Liberia
Liberia_16s.xlsx


Fasta file of 16s rRNA assemblies of the V1-V3 region (file contains both Indonesia & Liberia data)
Microbiome_and_Worm_Infection.16s_V1_V3_assemblies.fasta.gz
(md5sum: 321ee6ac68c134db3019413ccb60ade7)


Metadata file corresponding the the 16s rRNA assemblies (file contains both Indonesia & Liberia data)
Microbiome_and_Worm_Infection.16s_V1_V3_assemblies.fasta.supplementary_info.gz
(md5sum: 15a8875237884bdd782c80121113d2c7)