Asymptomatic Intestinal Colonization with Protist<i>Blastocystis</i>Is Strongly Associated with Distinct Microbiome Ecological Patterns

Nieves-Ramı́rez, Miriam; Partida-Rodríguez, Oswaldo; Laforest‐Lapointe, Isabelle; Reynolds, Lisa A.; Brown, Eric; Valdez-Salazar, A.; Morán-Silva, P.; Rojas-Velázquez, Liliana; Morien, Evan; Parfrey, Laura Wegener; Jin, Mingliang; Walter, Jens; Torres, Javier; Arrieta, Marie‐Claire; Ximénez-García, C.; Finlay, B. Brett

doi:10.1128/msystems.00007-18

Cited by 110 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…In this study, we may support this hypothesis as we evidenced the same allele within the ST7, which has been reported to be strongly associated with gastrointestinal symptoms in humans and showed pathogenic properties, not observed in other STs [43,47]. Indeed, features of gastro-intestinal symptoms were also found in human patients, here showing the same allele 100, at the ST7 (Mattiucci and Gabrielli, personal communication).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Gabrielli

Furzi

Brianti

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Blastocystis is a common intestinal protist distributed worldwide infecting humans and a wide range of domestic and wild animals. It exhibits an extensive genetic diversity and so far, 26 subtypes (STs) have been identified in animal hosts, ten of them (ST1-ST9 and ST12) reported in humans with varying prevalence. Since several STs are common to humans and animals it has been proposed that a proportion of human infections may have a zoonotic origin. Aims of the present study were to: 1) genetically detect Blastocystis in faecal samples of farmed animals and wild carnivores; 2) investigate the distribution of Blastocystis STs in different animal hosts; 3) provide a first study on the Blastocystis STs circulating between animals and humans in Italy.Methods: Fresh faecal samples (N=269) were collected from carnivores and farmed animals in different Italian provinces and submitted to genomic DNA extraction and PCR amplification followed by both sequence and phylogenetic analysis (Neighbour Joining and Maximum Parsimony)Results: Blastocystis was detected in 50% of the farmed animals (42 out of 84), and 19 of them were successfully subtyped. Conversely, all the faecal samples (N=185) from domestic and wild carnivores (dogs, cats, foxes) tested in the present study, resulted negative. Phylogenetic analysis showed the finding of ST5, ST7, ST9 and ST10 in the samples from animals. The comparison with sequences of Blastocystis STs previously detected from humans in Italy showed the ST7, as a potential source of zoonotic transmission.Conclusions: The present study represents the widest epidemiological survey so far performed in animals in Italy. Further epidemiological studies using molecular approaches are required to determine the occurrence and distribution of Blastocystis STs in other potential animal reservoirs and to define the pathways of zoonotic transmission.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Gabrielli

Furzi

Brianti

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Therefore, investigations on the gut microbiota from HIV-positive subjects Blastocystis-carriers are needed to complete and to better understand the preliminary results obtained in this study. Concerning FC, we found the median of both Blastocystis-carrier and free subjects within the normal range, supporting the non-pathogenic role of Blastocystis in inducing intestinal inflammation [25].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Molecular characterization of Blastocystis subtypes in HIV-positive patients and evaluation of risk factors for colonization

Gabrielli

Šuleková

Furzi

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Background Blastocystis is one of the most common intestinal protozoa in human faecal samples with uncertain impact on public health. Studies on the prevalence of Blastocystis in HIV-positive patients are limited and dated. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 156 HIV- positive patients to evaluate the prevalence of Blastocystis subtypes, to identify the risk factors for its transmission, to examine the relationship between the presence of the protist and gastrointestinal disorders and to assess the level of calprotectin in Blastocystis-carriers. Results Blastocystis was identified in 39 patients (25%). No correlation was found between the presence of the protist and virological or epidemiological risk factors. Blastocystis was more frequently detected in homosexual subjects (p=0.037) infected by other enteric protozoa (p= 0.0001) and with flatulence (p=0.024). No significant differences in calprotectin level was found between Blastocystis-carriers and free ones. Conclusions Blastocystis is quite common in HIV-positive patients on ART and homosexual behaviour could represent a risk factor for its transmission. The pathogenetic role of Blastocystis remains unclear, as the only symptom associated with its presence was flatulence. This result is intriguing since flatulence is related to the composition and stability of gut microbiota.

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“…Bacterial increases and decreases are thought in some conditions to be driven by the protists (Nieves‐Ramírez et al. ), but not necessarily with any implications for host health (Andersen and Stensvold ). Entamoeba presence also correlates with bacterial phyla proportions, and may explain increases in putatively anti‐inflammatory bacteria (Morton et al.…”

Section: Cross‐domain Relationships and Their Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some intramicrobiome cross-domain relationships may be simply structured, such as that between Blastocystis and Ruminococcus bacteria. The former predates on the latter, but this in turn leads to greater bacterial microbiome diversity and evenness (Nieves-Ram ırez et al 2018). Correlations between Blastocystis and anaerobic bacteria can also be driven by oxygen levels (Stensvold and van der Giezen 2018) and require particular agerelated diversity conditions in the bacterial gut microbiota (Scanlan et al 2018).…”

Section: Cross-domain Relationships and Their Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kaplan et al 2000;Richardson 1991). Numerous individual protists and fungi exhibit opportunism that fluctuates from fully and partly asymptomatic infections to varying levels of pathogenicity: Dientamoeba, Candida, Entamoeba, Giardia, Toxoplasma, Pneumocystis, Blastocystis and Cryptosporidium (Bartelt and Platts-Mills 2016;Bouzid et al 2013;Bruijnesteijn van Coppenraet et al 2015;Nieves-Ram ırez et al 2018;Osman et al 2016). S. var boulardii, although often characterized as a probiotic and thus assumed to have a positive influence on the gut, is also an opportunistic pathogen (Edwards-Ingram et al 2007).…”

Section: Contextual Pathogenicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting Strategies: Human Eukaryotic Versus Bacterial Microbiome Research

Hooks

O’Malley

2019

J Eukaryotic Microbiology

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Most discussions of human microbiome research have focused on bacterial investigations and findings. Our target is to understand how human eukaryotic microbiome research is developing, its potential distinctiveness, and how problems can be addressed. We start with an overview of the entire eukaryotic microbiome literature (578 papers), show tendencies in the human‐based microbiome literature, and then compare the eukaryotic field to more developed human bacterial microbiome research. We are particularly concerned with problems of interpretation that are already apparent in human bacterial microbiome research (e.g. disease causality, probiotic interventions, evolutionary claims). We show where each field converges and diverges, and what this might mean for progress in human eukaryotic microbiome research. Our analysis then makes constructive suggestions for the future of the field.

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Asymptomatic Intestinal Colonization with ProtistBlastocystisIs Strongly Associated with Distinct Microbiome Ecological Patterns

Cited by 110 publications

References 94 publications

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Molecular characterization of Blastocystis subtypes in HIV-positive patients and evaluation of risk factors for colonization

Contrasting Strategies: Human Eukaryotic Versus Bacterial Microbiome Research

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