Western oropharyngeal and gut microbial profiles are associated with allergic conditions in Chinese immigrant children
Methods: We investigated 58 Australian Chinese (AC) children from Perth, Western Australia as well as 63 Chinese-born Chinese (CC) children from a city in China. Oropharyngeal (OP) and fecal samples were collected. To assess the microbiomes, 16s ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing for variable regions V3 and V4 was used. Skin prick tests (SPT) were performed to measure the children's atopic status. Information on food allergy and wheezing were acquired from a questionnaire.
Results: AC children had more allergic conditions than CC children. The alpha diversity (mean species diversity) of both OP and gut microbiome was lower in AC children compared to CC children for richness estimate (Chao1), while diversity evenness (Shannon index) was higher. The beta diversity (community similarity) displayed a distinct separation of the OP and gut microbiota between AC and CC children. An apparent difference in microbial abundance was observed for many bacteria. In AC children, we sought to establish consistent trends in bacterial relative abundance that are either higher or lower in AC versus CC children and higher or lower in children with allergy versus those without allergy. The majority of OP taxa showed a consistent trend while the majority of fecal taxa showed a contrasting trend.
Conclusion: Distinct differences in microbiome compositions were found in both oropharyngeal and fecal samples of AC and CC children. The association of the OP microbiome with allergic condition is different from that of the gut microbiome in AC children. The microbiome profiles are changed by the western environment/lifestyle and are associated with allergies in Chinese immigrant children in Australia.
History
Publication title
World Allergy Organization JournalVolume
12Issue
8Article number
100051Number
100051Pagination
1-7ISSN
1939-4551Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
Elsevier BVPlace of publication
NetherlandsRights statement
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of World Allergy Organization. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Repository Status
- Open