TY - JOUR

T1 - A comparative analysis of the intestinal metagenomes present in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) and humans (Homo sapiens)

A1 - Hildebrand,Falk

A1 - Ebersbach,Tine

A1 - Nielsen,Henrik Bjørn

A1 - Li,Xiaoping

A1 - Sonne,Si Brask

A1 - dos Santos,Marcelo Bertalan Quintanilha

A1 - Dimitrov,Peter

A1 - Madsen,Lise

A1 - Qin,Junjie

A1 - Wang,Jun

A1 - Raes,Jeroen

A1 - Kristiansen,Karsten

A1 - Licht,Tine Rask

AU - Hildebrand,Falk

AU - Ebersbach,Tine

AU - Nielsen,Henrik Bjørn

AU - Li,Xiaoping

AU - Sonne,Si Brask

AU - dos Santos,Marcelo Bertalan Quintanilha

AU - Dimitrov,Peter

AU - Madsen,Lise

AU - Qin,Junjie

AU - Wang,Jun

AU - Raes,Jeroen

AU - Kristiansen,Karsten

AU - Licht,Tine Rask

PB - BioMed Central Ltd.

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Background: Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) is an important model for human intestinal research. We have characterized the faecal microbiota of 60 guinea pigs using Illumina shotgun metagenomics, and used this data to compile a gene catalogue of its prevalent microbiota. Subsequently, we compared the guinea pig microbiome to existing human gut metagenome data from the MetaHIT project.<br/>Results: We found that the bacterial richness obtained for human samples was lower than for guinea pig samples. The intestinal microbiotas of both species were dominated by the two phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, but at genus level, the majority of identified genera (320 of 376) were differently abundant in the two hosts. For example, the guinea pig contained considerably more of the mucin-degrading Akkermansia, as well as of the methanogenic archaea Methanobrevibacter than found in humans. Most microbiome functional categories were less abundant in guinea pigs than in humans. Exceptions included functional categories possibly reflecting dehydration/rehydration stress in the guinea pig intestine. Finally, we showed that microbiological databases have serious anthropocentric<br/>biases, which impacts model organism research.<br/>Conclusions: The results lay the foundation for future gastrointestinal research applying guinea pigs as models for humans.

AB - Background: Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) is an important model for human intestinal research. We have characterized the faecal microbiota of 60 guinea pigs using Illumina shotgun metagenomics, and used this data to compile a gene catalogue of its prevalent microbiota. Subsequently, we compared the guinea pig microbiome to existing human gut metagenome data from the MetaHIT project.<br/>Results: We found that the bacterial richness obtained for human samples was lower than for guinea pig samples. The intestinal microbiotas of both species were dominated by the two phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, but at genus level, the majority of identified genera (320 of 376) were differently abundant in the two hosts. For example, the guinea pig contained considerably more of the mucin-degrading Akkermansia, as well as of the methanogenic archaea Methanobrevibacter than found in humans. Most microbiome functional categories were less abundant in guinea pigs than in humans. Exceptions included functional categories possibly reflecting dehydration/rehydration stress in the guinea pig intestine. Finally, we showed that microbiological databases have serious anthropocentric<br/>biases, which impacts model organism research.<br/>Conclusions: The results lay the foundation for future gastrointestinal research applying guinea pigs as models for humans.

UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com.globalproxy.cvt.dk/1471-2164/13/514

U2 - 10.1186/1471-2164-13-514

DO - 10.1186/1471-2164-13-514

JO - B M C Genomics

JF - B M C Genomics

SN - 1471-2164

IS - 514

VL - 13

ER -