Characterization of the gut microbiota in Chinese children with overweight and obesity using 16S rRNA gene sequencing

PeerJ

article

Xiaowei Chen¹  Dawei Zhang³  Haixiang Sun¹  Fei Jiang¹  Yan Shen¹  Pingmin Wei¹  Xiaobing Shen¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University;Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Southeast University;Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention

关键词: 16S rRNA gene sequencing;    Gut microbiota;    Children;    Overweight;    Obesity;    Alpha diversity;    Beta diversity;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.11439

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Childhood obesity constitutes a worldwide health problem, and the gut microbiota play extremely important roles in obesity. Herein, we aimed to characterize the gut microbiota in children of normal weight, overweight, and obesity. Methods Thirty children of normal weight, 35 who were overweight, and 35 with obesity were enrolled from Nanjing, China. We isolated DNA from fecal samples, and employed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to explore the diversity and composition of gut microbiota. Results The operational taxonomic unit (OTU) numbers exhibited a reduction in the gut microbiota abundance with the increase in the body weight. Alpha diversity analysis revealed a sharp decrease in the mean microbial abundance among the three groups (Chao1: F = 5.478, P = 0.006; observed species: F = 7.271, P = 0.001; PD whole tree: F = 8.735, P < 0.001). Beta diversity analysis indicated notable differences in the gut microbial composition between children of normal weight and obesity. However, overweight children had little difference in gut microbiota compared to either children of normal weight or obesity. At the genus level, Oscillospira decreased among the three groups (χ2 = 10.062, P = 0.001), and Sutterella increased (F = 4.052, P = 0.020). There were many remarkably increased species of gut bacteria in the comparison among three groups, 31 in the normal weight group, 32 in the obese group, and only three species of bacteria were identified in the overweight group. These significantly increased species of gut bacteria may have a close relationship with the progression of obesity. Conclusions The abundance of species decreased significantly as the BMI increased. Although the gut microbial composition between children of normal weight and obesity was notably different, due to the changing ratio of some microbial communities, gut microbiota in overweight children showed similarities to that of children with normal weight and obesity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY