Spinal Cord Injury Changes the Structure and Functional Potential of Gut Bacterial and Viral Communities
Jingjie Du, Ahmed A. Zayed, Kristina A. Kigerl, Kylie Zane, Matthew B. Sullivan, Phillip G. Popovich
Abstract
To our knowledge, this is the first article to apply metagenomics to characterize changes in gut microbial population dynamics caused by a clinically relevant model of central nervous system (CNS) trauma. It also utilizes the most current approaches in genome-resolved metagenomics and viromics to maximize the biological inferences that can be made from these data. Overall, this article highlights the importance of autonomic nervous system regulation of a distal organ (gut) and its microbiome inhabitants after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). By providing information on taxonomy, function, and viruses, metagenomic data may better predict how SCI-induced gut dysbiosis influences systemic and neurological outcomes after SCI.