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Gut microbiota is considered to play a role in disease progression, and previous studies have reported an association of microbiome dysbiosis with T2D. In this study, we have attempted to investigate gut microbiota of ND, PreDMs, NewDMs, and KnownDMs. We found that the genera Akkermansia and Blautia decreased significantly ( P < 0.05) in treatment-naive diabetics and were restored in KnownDMs on antidiabetic treatment. To the best of our knowledge, comparative studies on shifts in the microbial community in individuals of different diabetic states are lacking. Understanding the transition of microbiota and its association with serum biomarkers in diabetics with different disease states may pave the way for new therapeutic approaches for T2D. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex metabolic syndrome characterized by insulin dysfunction and abnormalities in glucose and lipid metabolism. The gut microbiome has been recently identified as an important factor for development of T2D. In this study, a total of 102 subjects were recruited, and we have looked at the gut microbiota of prediabetics (PreDMs) ( n  = 17), newly diagnosed diabetics (NewDMs) ( n  = 11), and diabetics on antidiabetic treatment (KnownDMs) ( n  = 39) and compared them with healthy nondiabetics (ND) ( n  = 35). Twenty-five different serum biomarkers were measured to assess the status of diabetes and their association with gut microbiota. Our analysis revealed nine different genera as differentially abundant in four study groups. Among them, Akkermansia, Blautia, and Ruminococcus were found to be significantly ( P < 0.05) decreased, while Lactobacillus was increased in NewDMs compared to ND and recovered in KnownDMs. Akkermansia was inversely correlated with HbA1c and positively correlated with total antioxidants. Compared to ND, there was increased abundance of Megasphaera , Escherichia , and Acidaminococcus and decreased abundance of Sutterella in KnownDMs. Among many taxa known to act as community drivers during disease progression, we observed genus Sutterella as a common driver taxon among all diabetic groups. On the basis of the results of random forest analysis, we found that the genera Akkermansia and Sutterella and that the serum metabolites fasting glucose, HbA1c, methionine, and total antioxidants were highly discriminative factors among studied groups. Taken together, our data revealed that gut microbial diversity of NewDMs but not of PreDMs is significantly different from that of ND. Interestingly, after antidiabetic treatment, the microbial diversity of KnownDMs tends to recover toward that of ND. IMPORTANCE Gut microbiota is considered to play a role in disease progression, and previous studies have reported an association of microbiome dysbiosis with T2D. In this study, we have attempted to investigate gut microbiota of ND, PreDMs, NewDMs, and KnownDMs. We found that the genera Akkermansia and Blautia decreased significantly ( P < 0.05) in treatment-naive diabetics and were restored in KnownDMs on antidiabetic treatment. To the best of our knowledge, comparative studies on shifts in the microbial community in individuals of different diabetic states are lacking. Understanding the transition of microbiota and its association with serum biomarkers in diabetics with different disease states may pave the way for new therapeutic approaches for T2D.

The human microbiome plays a key role in maintaining host homeostasis and is influenced by age, geography, diet, and other factors. Traditionally, India has an established convention of extended family arrangements wherein three or more generations, bound by genetic relatedness, stay in the same household. In the present study, we have utilized this unique family arrangement to understand the association of age with the microbiome. We characterized stool, oral and skin microbiome of 54 healthy individuals from six joint families by 16S rRNA gene-based metagenomics. In total, 69 (1.03%), 293 (2.68%) and 190 (8.66%) differentially abundant OTUs were detected across three generations in the gut, skin and oral microbiome, respectively. Age-associated changes in the gut and oral microbiome of patrilineal families showed positive correlations in the abundance of phyla Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria, respectively. Genera Treponema and Fusobacterium showed a positive correlation with age while Granulicatella and Streptococcus showed a negative correlation with age in the oral microbiome. Members of genus Prevotella illustrated high abundance and prevalence as a core OTUs in the gut and oral microbiome. In conclusion, this study highlights that precise and perceptible association of age with microbiome can be drawn when other causal factors are kept constant.

With minor modifications, we applied a previously reported RNA isolation protocol that used guanidine hydrochloride to leaves of lyophilized (freeze-dried) tea (Camellia sinensis). Plant tissue must be preserved in its collected state, especially when genome-wide expression profiles are studied. Fresh leaf tissues cannot feasibly be transferred at ultra-low temperatures from natural habitats to the laboratory. We explored the use of lyophilized tissue for RNA isolation from tea leaves. High yields of RNA (500 μg/g dry weight of leaf tissue) were obtained, and the RNA was suitable for all molecular biology methods tested, including Northern blotting, reverse transcription, and microarray analysis. We demonstrated that RNA obtained from freeze-dried leaf tissue was high quality, undegraded, and useful for all downstream applications.

Transgenic plants harboring the left transfer DNA (TL-DNA) of the root inducing plasmid of Agrobacterium rhizogenes show many developmental abnormalities. We observed frequent appearance of normal looking lateral (revertant) shoots from such aberrant plants. Unlike aberrant shoots of the plant, revertant shoots exhibited a very high growth rate and set viable seeds. Sexual and vegetative reproduction studies showed inheritance of the revertant phenotype. Southern hybridization experiments demonstrated that the T-DNA pattern was identical in aberrant and revertant shoots, indicating that the revertant phenotype was not due to deletion or rearrangement of the T-DNA genes. Specific T-DNA transcripts were not expressed in revertant shoots. Thus, the revertant phenotype appears to result from the transcriptional inactivation of T-DNA genes. We propose that similar events in the past may have mediated horizontal acquisition of TL-DNA genes by ancestors of the genus Nicotiana, which are still found as silent endogenous T-DNA in present day untransformed Nicotiana species.