Gut dsDNA virome shows diversity and richness alterations associated with childhood obesity and metabolic syndrome

Shirley Bikel; Gamaliel López-Leal; Fernanda Cornejo-Granados; Luigui Gallardo-Becerra; Rodrigo García-López; Filiberto Sánchez; Edgar Equihua-Medina; Juan Pablo Ochoa-Romo; Blanca Estela López-Contreras; Samuel Canizales-Quinteros; Abigail Hernández-Reyna; Alfredo Mendoza-Vargas; Adrian Ochoa-Leyva

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102900

Gut dsDNA virome shows diversity and richness alterations associated with childhood obesity and metabolic syndrome

iScience. 2021 Jul 24;24(8):102900. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102900. eCollection 2021 Aug 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Microbiologia Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Avenida Universidad 2001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico.
² Unidad de Genomica de Poblaciones Aplicada a la Salud, Facultad de Quimica, UNAM/Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genomica (INMEGEN), Mexico City, Mexico.
³ Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genomica (INMEGEN), Mexico City, Mexico.

Abstract

Changes in the human gut microbiome are associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome, but the role of the gut virome in both diseases remains largely unknown. We characterized the gut dsDNA virome of 28 school-aged children with healthy normal-weight (NW, n = 10), obesity (O, n = 10), and obesity with metabolic syndrome (OMS, n = 8), using metagenomic sequencing of virus-like particles (VLPs) from fecal samples. The virome classification confirmed the bacteriophages' dominance, mainly composed of Caudovirales. Notably, phage richness and diversity of individuals with O and OMS tended to increase, while the VLP abundance remained the same among all groups. Of the 4,611 phage contigs composing the phageome, 48 contigs were highly prevalent in ≥80% of individuals, suggesting high inter-individual phage diversity. The abundance of several contigs correlated with gut bacterial taxa; and with anthropometric and biochemical parameters altered in O and OMS. To our knowledge, this gut phageome represents one of the largest datasets and suggests disease-specific phage alterations.

Keywords: biological sciences; endocrinology; microbiology; omics; physiology; virology.