Homo sapiens Raw sequence reads. human gut metagenome

More and more evidences indicate that faecal microbes have strong correlation with diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). However, little work is done to explore interaction between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and faecal microbes. In the present study, high-throughput sequencing method was used to compare the intestinal microbial diversity of healthy people and ALS patients. The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), Venn and unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) showed an obvious microbial changes between healthy people (group H) and ALS patients (group A), and the average ratios of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Anaerostipes, Prevotella, Escherichia and Lachnospira at genus level between ALS patients and healthy people were 0.78, 2.18, 3.41, 0.35, 0.79 and 13.07. Furthermore, the decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio at phylum level using LEfSE (LDA >4.0), together with the significant increased genus Dorea (harmful microorganisms ) and significant reduced genus Oscillibacter, Anaerostipes, Lachnospiraceae (beneficial microorganisms) in group A, indicated that the ALS had seriously destroyed the intestinal microbiological balance of patients and further impaired patients' health.