Commensal_bacterial_community_screening

Commensal bacteria colonizing the intestinal tract have an established role in helping maintaining a protective mucus barrier against pathogenic organisms, and in modulating intestinal immunity. FUT2 gene is responsible for intestinal fucosylation on epithelial cells. However, 20 – 30% of individuals in European, Asian and African populations are homozygous for a non-functional allele of FUT2 gene and therefore they cannot express fucosylated glycans in their mucus and other secretions (non-secretors). FUT2 gene has previously been demonstrated to play an essential role in shaping the microbiota and non-secretor status has been associated in GWAS studies with inflammatory bowel disease, a dysbiosis-associated intestinal chronic disease. Knowing the changes that occur in secretors and non-secretors microbiota structure would help to better understand the impact that FUT2 gene has on human intestinal microbiota. To address this point, healthy individual stool samples underwent bacterial DNA extraction and were subjected to standard metagenomics sequencing. To increase the metagenomic analysis resolution bacteria were cultured and whole-genome sequenced. Culturable microbiota communities grown from each donor were also pooled and analysed using standard metagenomics sequencing.