The Altered TBI Fecal Microbiome is Stable and is Functionally Distinct from Non-TBI Control Communities.

Patients that suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often experience chronic sequelae years after the injury. Working with participants from past clinical research, metatranscriptomic differences in the TBI-associated fecal microbiome (FMB) identified differently expressed bacterial genes and biochemical pathways in the TBI FMB compared to healthy control samples. Comparing the RNA profiles, TBI samples had ~1.5 fold more expressed genes with almost 700 differently expressed genes (DEG) mapped to over 100 bacterial species. DEGs assigned to pathways, led to the identification of 311 functions represented in the average TBI FMB profile while 264 were observed in the controls.

罹患创伤性脑损伤（traumatic brain injury, TBI）的患者，常在损伤发生数年后出现慢性后遗症。本研究依托既往临床研究的受试者样本，针对创伤性脑损伤相关粪便微生物组（fecal microbiome, FMB）开展宏转录组学分析，结果显示，与健康对照组样本相比，创伤性脑损伤患者的粪便微生物组存在宏转录组差异，可鉴定出差异表达的细菌基因与生化通路。通过对比RNA表达谱，创伤性脑损伤样本的表达基因总量约为对照组的1.5倍，且近700个差异表达基因（differently expressed genes, DEG）可对应至超过100种细菌物种。对上述差异表达基因进行通路注释后，研究发现创伤性脑损伤粪便微生物组的平均宏转录组谱共涵盖311种功能，而健康对照组仅观测到264种功能。