Gut microbiota interplay with COVID-19 reveals links to host lipid metabolism among Middle Eastern populations. Gut microbiota interplay with COVID-19 reveals links to host lipid metabolism among Middle Eastern populations

We discovered an enrichment of linoleic acid, ether lipid, glycerolipid, and glycerophospholipid metabolism among the SARS-CoV-2 infected group, suggesting a link to SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication in host cells.The identified differences provide a new insight to enrich our understanding of SARS-CoV-2-related changes in gut microbiota, their metabolic capabilities, and potential screening biomarkers linked to COVID-19 disease severity. Overall design: This case-control study involved 86 participants with previously confirmed COVID-19 infection and 57 healthy participants as controls. This study performed 16S rRNA gene-based microbial profiling of 143 subjects. However, after assessing the sample quality, only 128 samples passed quality control and were adequate to assess the gut microbiota diversity and composition. Of those, 78 participants had a previously confirmed COVID-19 infection and 50 healthy participants as controls.

本研究发现，新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）感染组中，亚油酸、醚脂、甘油脂及甘油磷脂代谢通路显著富集，提示其与病毒在宿主细胞内的入侵与复制存在关联。本次鉴定出的差异特征，为深化我们对新型冠状病毒相关肠道菌群变化、菌群代谢功能，以及与新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疾病严重程度相关的潜在筛查生物标志物的认知提供了全新视角。整体实验设计：本病例对照研究最初纳入86名既往确诊新型冠状病毒感染的受试者与57名健康对照受试者，共对143名受试者开展了基于16S rRNA基因的微生物组谱分析。经样本质量评估后，仅128份样本通过质量控制，可用于分析肠道菌群的多样性与组成；该128份样本对应的受试者中，78名为既往确诊新型冠状病毒感染的患者，50名为健康对照者。