Biology subjects

Ran Blekhman

Publications and source records attributed to Ran Blekhman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2016

Genetic and transcriptional analysis of human host response to healthy gut microbiome

Many studies have demonstrated the importance of the gut microbiome in healthy and disease states. However, establishing the causality of host-microbiome interactions in humans is still challenging. Here, we describe a novel experimental system to define the transcriptional response induced by the microbiome in human cells and to shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying host-gut microbiome interactions. In primary human colonic epithelial cells, we identified over 6,000 genes that change expression at various time points following co-culturing with the gut microbiome of a healthy individual. The differentially expressed genes are enriched for genes associated with several microbiome-related diseases, such as obesity and colorectal cancer. In addition, our experimental system allowed us to identify 87 host SNPs that show allele-specific expression in 69 genes. Furthermore, for 12 SNPs in 12 different genes, allele-specific expression is conditional on the exposure to the microbiome. Of these 12 genes, eight have been associated with diseases linked to the gut microbiome, specifically colorectal cancer, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Our study demonstrates a scalable approach to study host-gut microbiome interactions and can be used to identify putative mechanisms for the interplay between host genetics and microbiome in health and disease.

Genomics↗

bioRxiv2016

Common methods for fecal sample storage in field studies yield consistent signatures of individual identity in microbiome sequencing data

Field studies of wild vertebrates are frequently associated with extensive collections of banked fecal samples, which are often collected from known individuals and sometimes also sampled longitudinally across time. Such collections represent unique resources for understanding ecological, behavioral, and phylogenetic effects on the gut microbiome, especially for species of particular conservation concern. However, we do not understand whether sample storage methods confound the ability to investigate interindividual variation in gut microbiome profiles. This uncertainty arises in part because comparisons across storage methods to date generally include only a few ([≤]5) individuals, or analyze pooled samples. Here, we used n=52 samples from 13 rhesus macaque individuals to compare immediate freezing, the gold standard of preservation, to three methods commonly used in vertebrate field studies: storage in ethanol, lyophilization following ethanol storage, and storage in RNAlater. We found that the signature of individual identity consistently outweighed storage effects: alpha diversity and beta diversity measures were significantly correlated across methods, and while samples often clustered by donor, they never clustered by storage method. Provided that all analyzed samples are stored the same way, banked fecal samples therefore appear highly suitable for investigating variation in gut microbiota. Our results open the door to a much-expanded perspective on variation in the gut microbiome across species and ecological contexts.

Genomics↗

bioRxiv2015

Ecological and evolutionary adaptations shape the gut microbiome of BaAka African rainforest hunter-gatherers

The gut microbiome provides access to otherwise unavailable metabolic and immune functions, likely affecting mammalian fitness and evolution. To investigate how this microbial ecosystem impacts evolutionary adaptation of humans to particular habitats, we explore the gut microbiome and metabolome of the BaAka rainforest hunter-gatherers from Central Africa. The data demonstrate that the BaAka harbor a colonic ecosystem dominated by Prevotellaceae and other taxa likely related to an increased capacity to metabolize plant structural polysaccharides, phenolics, and lipids. A comparative analysis shows that the BaAka gut microbiome shares similar patterns with that of the Hadza, another hunter-gatherer population from Tanzania. Nevertheless, the BaAka harbor significantly higher bacterial diversity and pathogen load compared to the Hadza, as well as other Western populations. We show that the traits unique to the BaAka microbiome and metabolome likely reflect adaptations to hunter-gatherer lifestyles and particular subsistence patterns. We hypothesize that the observed increase in microbial diversity and potential pathogenicity in the BaAka microbiome has been facilitated by evolutionary adaptations in immunity genes, resulting in a more tolerant immune system.\n\nSignificanceHuman ecological adaptation requires changes at the genomic level. However, the gut microbiome, the collection of microbes inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract and their functions, also responds significantly to ecological challenge. To determine how the gut microbiome responds to evolutionary adaptations in the host, we profiled gut bacterial communities of the BaAka, rainforest hunter-gatherers from Central Africa. The gut microbiome of the BaAka shows adaptations to metabolize foods rich in fiber, tannins and fats. Similarly, higher bacterial diversity and abundance of pathogenic bacteria, compared to other hunter-gatherers and western populations, suggest that the BaAka immune system evolved to coexist with increased pathogen threats. Accordingly, these results show how the gut microbiome contributes to human ecological plasticity, impacting host adaptation and evolution.

Microbiology↗

bioRxiv2015

Variation in rural African gut microbiota is strongly correlated with colonization by Entamoeba and subsistence

The human gut microbiota is impacted by host nutrition and health status and therefore represents a potentially adaptive phenotype influenced by metabolic and immune constraints. Previous studies contrasting rural populations in developing countries to urban industrialized ones have shown that industrialization is strongly correlated with patterns in human gut microbiota; however, we know little about the relative contribution of factors such as climate, diet, medicine, hygiene practices, host genetics, and parasitism. Here, we focus on fine-scale comparisons of African rural populations in order to (i) contrast the gut microbiota of populations inhabiting similar environments but having different traditional subsistence modes and either shared or distinct genetic ancestry, and (ii) examine the relationship between gut parasites and bacterial communities. Characterizing the fecal microbiota of Pygmy hunter-gatherers as well as Bantu individuals from both farming and fishing populations in Southwest Cameroon, we found that the gut parasite Entamoeba is significantly correlated with microbiome composition and diversity. We show that across populations, colonization by this protozoa can be predicted with 79% accuracy based on the composition of an individual's gut microbiota, and that several of the taxa most important for distinguishing Entamoeba absence or presence are signature taxa for autoimmune disorders. We also found gut communities to vary significantly with subsistence mode, notably with some taxa previously shown to be enriched in other hunter-gatherers groups (in Tanzania and Peru) also discriminating hunter-gatherers from neighboring farming or fishing populations in Cameroon.\n\nAuthor SummaryThe community of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract plays a critical role in determining human health. Its been hypothesized that the industrialized lifestyle, marked by a diet rich in processed foods, higher use of antibiotics, increased hygiene, and exposure to various chemicals, has altered microbiota in ways that are harmful. Studies have addressed this by comparing rural and industrialized populations, and have found that they systematically vary in their gut microbiome composition. Nevertheless, the relative influence of host genetics, diet, climate, medication, hygiene practices, and parasitism is still not clear. In addition, microbial variation between nearby human populations has not been explored in depth. Moreover, The World Health Organization estimates that 24% of the worlds population, concentrated in developing countries, is infected with gut parasites. Despite this, and evidence for direct interactions between the immune system and both gut parasites and bacteria, we know relatively little about the relationship between gut helminths, protozoa, and bacteria. In our study, we aimed to address some of this complexity. To do so, we characterized the gut microbial communities and parasites from Pygmy hunter-gatherer and Bantu farming and fishing populations from seven locations in the rainforest of Southwest Cameroon. We found that both subsistence mode and the presence of the gut protozoa, Entamoeba, were significantly correlated with microbiome composition. These findings support previous studies demonstrating diet is an important determinant of gut microbiota, and further show that this pattern holds true at a local scale, in traditional societies inhabiting a similar environment. Additionally, we show a significant relationship between a common human parasite (Entamoeba) and gut bacterial community composition, suggesting potential important interactions between the immune system, gut bacteria, and gut parasites, highlighting the need for more hierarchical cross population studies that include parasitism as potential factor influencing gut microbiota dynamics.

Microbiology↗

bioRxiv2014

Virulence genes are a signature of the microbiome in the colorectal tumor microenvironment

BackgroundThe human gut microbiome is associated with the development of colon cancer, and recent studies have found changes in the composition of the microbial communities in cancer patients compared to healthy controls. However, host-bacteria interactions are mainly expected to occur in the cancer microenvironment, whereas current studies primarily use stool samples to survey the microbiome. Here, we highlight the major shifts in the colorectal tumor microbiome relative to that of matched normal colon tissue from the same individual, allowing us to survey the microbial communities at the tumor microenvironment, and provides intrinsic control for environmental and host genetic effects on the microbiome.\n\nResultsWe characterized the microbiome in 44 primary tumor and 44 patient-matched normal colon tissues. We find that tumors harbor distinct microbial communities compared to nearby healthy tissue. Our results show increased microbial diversity at the tumor microenvironment, with changes in the abundances of commensal and pathogenic bacterial taxa, including Fusobacterium and Providencia. While Fusobacteria has previously been implicated in CRC, Providencia is a novel tumor-associated agent, and has several features that make it a potential cancer driver, including a strong immunogenic LPS and an ability to damage colorectal tissue. Additionally, we identified a significant enrichment of virulence-associated genes in the colorectal cancer microenvironment.\n\nConclusionsThis work identifies bacterial taxa significantly correlated with colorectal cancer, including a novel finding of an elevated abundance of Providencia in the tumor microenvironment. We also describe several metabolic pathways and enzymes differentially present in the tumor associated microbiome, and show that the bacterial genes in the tumor microenvironment are enriched for virulence associated genes from the aggregate microbial community. This virulence enrichment indicates that the microbiome likely plays an active role in colorectal cancer development and/or progression. These reuslts provide a starting point for future prognostic and therapeutic research with the potential to improve patient outcomes.

Genomics↗