Comparative analysis of the serum microbiome of HIV infected individuals

Abstract

HIV infects the CD4 cells which marks the suppression of our immune system. DNA from serum of healthy, treated and untreated HIV infected individuals was extracted. The DNA was subjected to 16S metagenomic sequencing and analyzed using QIIME2 pipeline. 16S sequencing analysis showed serum microbiome was dominated by Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota and Actinobacteria. Treated HIV infection showed highest abundance of Firmicutes (66.40%) significantly higher than untreated HIV infection (35.88%) and control (41.89%). Bacilli was most abundant class in treated (63.59%) and second most abundant in untreated (34.53%) while control group showed highest abundance of class Gamma-proteobacteria (45.86%). Untreated HIV infection group showed Enterococcus (10.72%) and Streptococcus (6.599%) as the most abundant species. Untreated HIV infection showed significantly higher (p = 0.0039) species richness than treated and control groups. An altered serum microbiome of treated HIV infection and higher microbial abundance in serum of untreated HIV infection was observed.

Keywords: 16S metagenomics; Anti-retroviral therapy; CD4 decline; Serum microbiome.