The relative abundance of fecal bacterial species belonging to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla is related to plasma levels of bile acids in young adults

Francisco J. Osuna-Prieto*, Huiwen Xu, Lourdes Ortiz-Alvarez, Xinyu Di, Isabelle Kohler, Lucas Jurado-Fasoli, Jose Rubio-Lopez, Julio Plaza-Díaz, Ramiro Vilchez-Vargas, Alexander Link, Angel Gil, Jonatan R. Ruiz*, Patrick C.N. Rensen, Borja Martinez-Tellez*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Gut bacteria play a crucial role in the metabolism of bile acids (BA). Whether an association exists between the fecal microbiota composition and circulating BA levels in humans is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the relationship between fecal microbiota diversity and composition with plasma levels of BA in young adults. Methods: Fecal microbiota diversity/composition was analyzed with 16S rRNA sequencing in 80 young adults (74% women; 21.9 ± 2.2 years old). Plasma levels of BA were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. PERMANOVA and Spearman correlation analyses were used to investigate the association between fecal microbiota parameters and plasma levels of BA. Results: Fecal microbiota beta (P = 0.025) and alpha diversity indexes of evenness (rho = 0.237, P = 0.033), Shannon (rho = 0.313, P = 0.004), and inverse Simpson (rho = 0.283, P = 0.010) were positively associated with plasma levels of the secondary BA glycolithocholic acid (GLCA). The relative abundance of genera belonging to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla was positively correlated with plasma levels of GLCA (all rho ≥ 0.225, P ≤ 0.049). However, the relative abundance of species from Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla were negatively correlated with plasma levels of primary and secondary BA (all rho ≤ − 0.220, P ≤ 0.045), except for the relative abundance of Bacteroides vulgatus, Alistipes onderdonkii, and Bacteroides xylanisolvens species (Bacteroidetes phylum) that were positively correlated with the plasma levels of GLCA. Conclusions: The relative abundance of specific fecal bacteria species is associated with plasma levels of BA in young adults. However, further investigations are required to validate whether the composition of the gut microbiota can regulate the plasma concentrations of BA in humans.

Original languageEnglish
Article number54
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalMetabolomics
Volume19
Issue number6
Early online date6 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. The study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393) and PTA 12264-I, Retos de la Sociedad (DEP2016-79512-R), and European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), by the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU16/05159, FPU16/02828, FPU17/01523 and FPU19/01609), the Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición (FINUT), the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES), AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, and by the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad (ref. P18-RT-4455), the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201707060012 to XD), Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero and Maria Zambrano fellowship by the Ministerio de Universidades y la Unión Europea –NextGenerationEU (RR_C_2021_04). We would like to thank the team of Data Integration Center of University Medicine Magdeburg for local data-analysis solutions; they are supported by MIRACUM and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the “Medical Informatics Funding Scheme” (FKZ 01ZZ1801H). This study is part of a Ph.D. thesis conducted within the Biomedicine Doctoral Studies Program of the University of Granada, Spain. AL was supported by the funds from European Commission through the “European funds for regional development” (EFRE) Project ID: ZS/2018/11/95324.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

Funding

Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. The study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393) and PTA 12264-I, Retos de la Sociedad (DEP2016-79512-R), and European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), by the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU16/05159, FPU16/02828, FPU17/01523 and FPU19/01609), the Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición (FINUT), the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES), AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, and by the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad (ref. P18-RT-4455), the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201707060012 to XD), Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero and Maria Zambrano fellowship by the Ministerio de Universidades y la Unión Europea –NextGenerationEU (RR_C_2021_04). We would like to thank the team of Data Integration Center of University Medicine Magdeburg for local data-analysis solutions; they are supported by MIRACUM and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the “Medical Informatics Funding Scheme” (FKZ 01ZZ1801H). This study is part of a Ph.D. thesis conducted within the Biomedicine Doctoral Studies Program of the University of Granada, Spain. AL was supported by the funds from European Commission through the “European funds for regional development” (EFRE) Project ID: ZS/2018/11/95324.

FundersFunder number
CBUA
MIRACUM
Ministerio de Universidades y la Unión EuropeaRR_C_2021_04
University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación
Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero
Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad, Junta de AndalucíaP18-RT-4455
Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad, Junta de Andalucía
AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation
Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición
European Commission
Bundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungFKZ 01ZZ1801H
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y DeporteFPU16/05159, FPU16/02828, FPU17/01523, FPU19/01609
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
China Scholarship Council201707060012
China Scholarship Council
Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIPI13/01393, DEP2016-79512-R, PTA 12264-I
Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Universidad de Granada
European Regional Development FundZS/2018/11/95324
European Regional Development Fund

    Keywords

    • 7-α-Dehydroxylases
    • Bile salt hydrolases
    • Gut microbiota
    • Microbiome

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The relative abundance of fecal bacterial species belonging to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla is related to plasma levels of bile acids in young adults'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this