Analyzing Type 2 Diabetes Associations with the Gut Microbiome in Individuals from Two Ethnic Backgrounds Living in the Same Geographic Area

Abstract

It is currently unknown whether associations between gut microbiota composition and type 2 diabetes (T2D) differ according to the ethnic background of individuals. Thus, we studied these associations in participants from two ethnicities characterized by a high T2D prevalence and living in the same geographical area, using the Healthy Life In Urban Settings (HELIUS) study. We included 111 and 128 T2D participants on metformin (Met-T2D), 78 and 49 treatment-naïve T2D (TN-T2D) participants, as well as a 1:1 matched group of healthy controls from, respectively, African Surinamese and South-Asian Surinamese descent. Fecal microbiome profiles were obtained through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Univariate and machine learning analyses were used to explore the associations between T2D and the composition and function of the gut microbiome in both ethnicities, comparing Met-T2D and TN-T2D participants to their respective healthy control. We found a lower α-diversity for South-Asian Surinamese TN-T2D participants but no significant associations between TN-T2D status and the abundance of bacterial taxa or functional pathways. In African Surinamese participants, we did not find any association between TN-T2D status and the gut microbiome. With respect to Met-T2D participants, we identified several bacterial taxa and functional pathways with a significantly altered abundance in both ethnicities. More alterations were observed in South-Asian Surinamese. Some altered taxa and pathways observed in both ethnicities were previously related to metformin use. This included a strong negative association between the abundance of Romboutsia and Met-T2D status. Other bacterial taxa were consistent with previous observations in T2D, including reduced butyrate producers such as Anaerostipes hadrus. Hence, our results highlighted both shared and unique gut microbial biomarkers of Met-T2D in individuals from different ethnicities but living in the same geographical area. Future research using higher-resolution shotgun sequencing is needed to clarify the role of ethnicity in the association between T2D and gut microbiota composition.

Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance

“…The microbial features that potentially mediate these differences included 25 species and 27 pathways that are significantly (FDR-corrected linear-mixed model p < 0.05) differentially abundant between the two subsets (Table S7). Pathways related to menaquinol biosynthesis, previously associated with type 1 (Roth-Schulze et al, 2021) and type 2 diabetes (Balvers et al, 2021;Dash and Bataineh, 2021;Wu et al, 2020), were the most overrepresented features in mouse recipients of baseline microbiomes from top responders (p = 0.0006, Figure 7F). Pathways related to purine (p < 0.0001) and pyrimidine (p = 0.005) biosynthesis were more abundant in mouse recipients of baseline microbiomes of top responders, whereas purine degradation (p < 0.0001) was more abundant in recipients of baseline microbiomes from bottom responders (Figure 7F), in line with the correlation between purine biosynthesis and elevated glycemic response noted in the entire sucralose group (Figure 4A).…”

Functional recovery outcomes following acute stroke is associated with abundance of gut microbiota related to inflammation, butyrate and secondary bile acid

“…Agathobaculum butyriciproducens is a strictly anaerobic and butyric acid-producing bacteria that has had impressive success in restoring cognition in Alzheimer's disease mouse models ( 29 ). Anaerostipes hadrus can produce butyrate from carbohydrates or lactate ( 30 , 31 ) and is often decreased in diabetes ( 32 ). Eubacterium rectale is also a butyrate producer ( 33 ) responsible for metabolizing dietary plant polysaccharides ( 34 ); it is increased in obesity ( 35 ) and reduces inflammatory dendritic cells ( 33 ).…”

Gut Microbiota: The Potential Key Target of TCM’s Therapeutic Effect of Treating Different Diseases Using the Same Method—UC and T2DM as Examples

“…Both clinical and basic studies have confirmed that some patients with UC and UC mouse models induced by DSS decrease gut microbiota diversity ( Xu et al., 2021a ; Zhuang et al., 2021 ), and after exclusive enteral nutrition and chemical drug treatment, α-diversity indicators show an upward trend ( Radhakrishnan et al., 2022 ). Similarly, decreased diversity has been observed in individuals with T2DM and in high-fat-fed mouse models ( Nyavor et al., 2019 ; Balvers et al., 2021 ). As described in Tables 1 , 2 , most TCMs, such as curcumin and Rhizoma atractylodis macrocephalae , restore the diversity of flora, which may be one of the factors for treating different diseases using the same method.…”