Journal Article

Fecal Protease Activity Is Associated with Compositional Alterations in the Intestinal Microbiota

University of North Carolina, Ferrier, Laurent, Wu, Michael C, Ringel, Yehuda, Carroll, Ian M, Siddle, Jennica P, young investigator grant for probiotics research; global probiotics committee; National Institutes of Health [DK084294, DK075621]; [DK092330], ToxAlim (ToxAlim) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan (INP - PURPAN) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT), North Carolina State University [Raleigh] (NC State) ; University of North Carolina System (UNC), Bueno, Lionel, Ringel-Kulka, Tamar

2013

Overview

Objective: Intestinal proteases carry out a variety of functions in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Studies have reported that elevated enteric proteases in patients with GI disease can alter intestinal physiology, however the origin (human vs. microbial) of elevated proteases in patients with GI disease is unclear. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between protease activity and the microbiota in human fecal samples. Design: In order to capture a wide range of fecal protease (FP) activity stool samples were collected from 30 IBS patients and 24 healthy controls. The intestinal microbiota was characterized using 454 high throughput pyro-sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The composition and diversity of microbial communities were determined and compared using the Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) pipeline. FP activity levels were determined using an ELISA-based method. FP activity was ranked and top and bottom quartiles (n=13 per quartile) were identified as having high and low FP activity, respectively. Results: The overall diversity of the intestinal microbiota displayed significant clustering separation (p = 0.001) between samples with high vs. low FP activity. The Lactobacillales, Lachnospiraceae, and Streptococcaceae groups were positively associated with FP activity across the entire study population, whilst the Ruminococcaceae family and an unclassified Coriobacteriales family were negatively associated with FP activity. Conclusions: These data demonstrate significant associations between specific intestinal bacterial groups and fecal protease activity and provide a basis for further causative studies investigating the role of enteric microbes and GI diseases.

• Publisher: CCSD,Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adult / Antibiotics / Bacteria / Cell division / Clustering / DNA, Bacterial - genetics / Ecology / Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay / Feces / Feces - enzymology / Feces - microbiology / Female / Gastroenterology / Gastrointestinal diseases / Gastrointestinal tract / Gene sequencing / Health care / Hepatology / Humans / Inflammatory bowel disease / Intestinal microflora / Intestine / Intestines - microbiology / Irritable bowel syndrome / Laboratories / Lactobacillales - genetics / Lactobacillales - physiology / Life Sciences / Male / Medical research / Microbial activity / Microbiota / Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms) / Microorganisms / Patients / Peptide Hydrolases - metabolism / Physiological aspects / Population studies / Probiotics / Protease / Proteases / Proteinase / Proteins / Public health / Quartiles / Rankings / Review boards / RNA / RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics / rRNA 16S / Streptococcaceae - genetics / Streptococcaceae - physiology / Streptococcus infections / Streptococcus pneumoniae
• ISBN: 0003260222000