The gut microbiome in konzo

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25694-1
• Publication Date: 2021-09-10T10:03:22Z
• Authors: Matthew S. Bramble; Neerja Vashist; Arthur Ko; Sambhawa Priya; Céleste Musasa; Alban Mathieu; D’ Andre Spencer; Michel Lupamba Ka...; Patrick Mamona Di...; Kevin Karume; Joanna Nsibu; Hans Manya; Mary N. A. Uy; Brian Colwell; Michael Boivin; J. P. Banae Mayambu; Daniel Okitundu; Arnaud Droit; Dieudonné Mumba N...; Ran Blekhman; Desire Tshala-Kat...; Eric Vilain
• Keywords: 570; Manihot; Science; 610; Microbiology; Oral and gastrointestinal; Article; Feces; 03 medical and health sciences; Nitriles; Genetics; 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors; Humans; Motor Neuron Disease; Child; Nutrition; Pediatric; 2. Zero hunger; 0303 health sciences; Human Genome; Q; Feeding Behavior; Biological Sciences; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; 3. Good health; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Zero Hunger; Female; Microbiome; Disease Susceptibility; Metagenomics; Infection

AbstractKonzo, a distinct upper motor neuron disease associated with a cyanogenic diet and chronic malnutrition, predominately affects children and women of childbearing age in sub-Saharan Africa. While the exact biological mechanisms that cause this disease have largely remained elusive, host-genetics and environmental components such as the gut microbiome have been implicated. Using a large study population of 180 individuals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where konzo is most frequent, we investigate how the structure of the gut microbiome varied across geographical contexts, as well as provide the first insight into the gut flora of children affected with this debilitating disease using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our findings indicate that the gut microbiome structure is highly variable depending on region of sampling, but most interestingly, we identify unique enrichments of bacterial species and functional pathways that potentially modulate the susceptibility of konzo in prone regions of the Congo.