Comparison of gut microbiota between adults with autism spectrum disorder and obese adults

Qiang Zhang; Rong Zou; Min Guo; Mengmeng Duan; Quan Li; Huajun Zheng

doi:10.7717/peerj.10946

Comparison of gut microbiota between adults with autism spectrum disorder and obese adults

PeerJ. 2021 Mar 1:9:e10946. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10946. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qiang Zhang^{1

2}, Rong Zou², Min Guo², Mengmeng Duan², Quan Li¹, Huajun Zheng²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China.
² NHC Key Lab. of Reproduction Regulation (Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research), Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obesity are serious global public health problems. Studies have shown that ASD children are at a higher risk of obesity than the general population. To investigate the gut microbe characteristics of adults ASD and obese adults, we compared the gut microbiota of adults with ASD to obese adults.

Methods: The fecal samples were collected from 21 adult patients with ASD and 21 obese adults, and V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA genes were sequenced by high-throughput DNA sequencing. The gut microbiota of adults with ASD and obese adults was compared.

Results: We observed the proportion of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes in ASD was significantly increased, with families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae significantly enriched in adult ASD. Eighteen genera, including Lachnospiracea incertae sedis, Ruminococcus, Blautia, and Holdemanella were significantly increased in adult ASD, whereas Megamonas and Fusobacterium were significantly increased in obesity. At the species level, we found six species enriched in ASD and three species enriched in obesity, including Phascolarctobacterium succinatuten producing propionate. Dialister succinatiphilus may be as a biomarker for predicting obesity, as well as Prevotella copri may be a common-owned pathogens of ASD and obesity.

Conclusions: Some conflicting results have been reported in microbiota studies of ASD, which may be related to age and obesity. Thus, the body mass index should be evaluated before analyzing the gut microbiota of patients with ASD, as obesity is prevalent in these individuals and gut microbiota is severally affected by obesity.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; Adult autism spectrum disorder; Autism spectrum disorder; Gut microbiota; Obesity.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Development Fund for Shanghai Talents [Grant number 201567]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.