Fecal shotgun metagenomic sequences of Multiple Sclerosis patients and Healthy Controls

Gut microbiota dysbiosis and gastrointestinal disorders are linked with the pathobiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there is no consensus on specific gut bacteria or potential mechanisms that contribute to disease pathogenesis. To address this knowledge gap, we performed shotgun-metagenomic sequencing of the stool microbiome from 45 MS patients and 51 healthy controls (HCs). We identified two key gut bacteria, Prevotella copri (P. copri) and Blautia species, as drivers of gut microbiome communities from HCs and those with MS, respectively. In summary, our study identified specific bacterial species as important gut microbial marker in MS patients, which provides critical interaction insights between MS and the gut microbiome to develop probiotic or therapeutic microbiome-based therapies for MS.