Impact of intestinal parasites on microbiota and cobalamin gene sequences: a pilot study

MEJIA, ROJELIO; DAMANIA, ASHISH; JEUN, REBECCA; BRYAN, PATRICIA E.; VARGAS, PAOLA; JUAREZ, MARISA; CAJAL, PAMELA S.; NASSER, JULIO; KROLEWIECKI, ALEJANDRO; LEFOULON, EMILIE; LONG, COURTNEY; DRAKE, EVAN; CIMINO, RUBÉN O.; SLATKO, BARTON

PARASITES AND VECTORS

BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 13 p. 1 - 9

1756-3305

BACKGROUND:Approximately 30% of children worldwide are infected with gastrointestinal parasites. Depending on the species, parasites can disrupt intestinal bacterial microbiota affecting essential vitamin biosynthesis.METHODS:Stool samples were collected from 37 asymptomatic children from a previous cross-sectional Argentinian study. A multi-parallel real-time quantitative PCR was implemented for Ascaris lumbricoides, Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus, Strongyloides stercoralis, Trichuris trichiura, Cryptosporidium spp., Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia duodenalis. In addition, whole-genome sequencing analysis was conducted for bacterial microbiota on all samples and analyzed using Livermore Metagenomic Analysis Toolkit and DIAMOND software. Separate analyses were carried out for uninfected, Giardia-only, Giardia + helminth co-infections, and helminth-only groups.RESULTS:For Giardia-only infected children compared to uninfected children, DNA sequencing data showed a decrease in microbiota biodiversity that correlated with increasing Giardia burden and was statistically significant using Shannon´s alpha diversity (Giardia-only > 1 fg/µl 2.346; non-infected group 3.253, P = 0.0317). An increase in diversity was observed for helminth-only infections with a decrease in diversity for Giardia + helminth co-infections (P = 0.00178). In Giardia-only infections, microbiome taxonomy changed from Firmicutes towards increasing proportions of Prevotella, with the degree of change related to the intensity of infection compared to uninfected (P = 0.0317). The abundance of Prevotella bacteria was decreased in the helminths-only group but increased for Giardia + helminth co-infections (P = 0.0262). Metagenomic analysis determined cobalamin synthesis was decreased in the Giardia > 1 fg/µl group compared to both the Giardia