Skip to main content
Log in

Molecular typing of fecal eukaryotic microbiota of human infants and their respective mothers

  • Brief communication
  • Published:
Journal of Biosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The micro-eukaryotic diversity from the human gut was investigated using universal primers directed towards 18S rRNA gene, fecal samples being the source of DNA. The subjects in this study included two breast-fed and two formula-milk-fed infants and their mothers. The study revealed that the infants did not seem to harbour any micro-eukaryotes in their gut. In contrast, there were distinct eukaryotic microbiota present in the mothers. The investigation is the first of its kind in the comparative study of the human feces to reveal the presence of micro-eukaryotic diversity variance in infants and adults from the Indian subcontinent. The micro-eukaryotes encountered during the investigation include known gut colonizers like Blastocystis and some fungi species. Some of these micro-eukaryotes have been speculated to be involved in clinical manifestations of various diseases. The study is an attempt to highlight the importance of micro-eukaryotes in the human gut.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1

References

  • Chao A 1987 Estimating the population size for capture–recapture data with unequal catchability. Biometrics 43 783–791

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen TL, Chan CC, Chen HP, Fung CP, Lin CP, Chan WL and Liu CY 2003 Clinical characteristics and endoscopic findings associated with Blastocystis hominis in healthy adults. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 69 213–216

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duchmann R, Kaiser I, Hermann E, Mayet W, Ewe K, and Meyer zum Büschenfelde KH 1995 Tolerance exists towards resident intestinal flora but is broken in active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Clin. Exp. Immunol. 102 448–455

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Felsenstein J 1989 PHYLIP – Phylogeny Inference Package (version 3.2). Cladistics 5 164–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Finegold SM, Sutter VL and Mathisen GE 1983 Normal indigenous intestinal flora; in Human intestinal microflora in health and disease (eds) DJ Hentges (New York: Academic press) pp 3–31

  • Forsburg CW, Cheng KJ and White BA 1997 Polysaccharide degradation in the rumen and large intestine; in Gastrointestinal microbiology. Gastrointestinal ecosystems and fermentations (ed) RI Mackie and BA White (New York: Chapman & Hall) pp 319–379

  • Francisco G and Juan RM 2003 Gut flora in health and disease. Lancet 361 512–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Good IJ 1953 The population frequencies of species and the estimation of population parameters. Biometrika 40 237–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobson PN and Wallace RJ 1982 Microbial ecology and active ties in the rumen. Crit. Rev. Microbiol. 9 165–225

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes JB, Hellmann JJ, Ricketts TH and Bohannan BJ 2001 Counting the uncountable: statistical approaches to estimating microbial diversity. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67 4399–4406

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs CJ 1998 Ecological methodology 2nd edition (Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhbacher T, Ott SJ, Helwig U, Mimura T, Rizzello F and Kleessen B 2006 Bacterial and fungal microbiota in relation to probiotic therapy (VSL#3) inpouchitis. Gut 55 833–841

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leelayoova S, Vithayasai N, Watanaveeradej V, Chotpitayasunondh T, Therapong V,Naaglor T and Mungthin M 2001Intestinal microsporidiosis in HIV-infected children with acute and chronic diarrhoea. Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health 32 33–37

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Macpherson A, Khoo UY, Forgacs I, Philpott-Howard J and Bjarnason I 1996 Mucosal antibodies in inflammatory bowel disease are directed against intestinal bacteria. Gut 38 365–375

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE 1996 Ecological diversity and its measurement (London: Chapman and Hall)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogimoto K and Imai S 1981 Atlas of rumen microbiology (Tokyo: Japan Science Society Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Prins RA 1991 Rumen ciliates and their function; in Rumen microbial metabolism and microbial digestion (ed) JP Jouany (Paris: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) pp 39– 52

  • Rao K, Sekar U, Iraivan KT, Abraham G and Soundararajan P 2003 Blastocystis hominis an emerging cause of diarrhoea in renal transplant recipients. JAPI 51 719–721

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scanlan PD and Marchesi JR 2008 Micro-eukaryotic diversity of the human distal gut microbiota: qualitative assessment using culture-dependent and –independent analysis of faeces. ISME J. 12 1183–1193

    Google Scholar 

  • Schloss PD and Handelsman J 2005 Introducing DOTUR, a computer program for defining operational taxonomic units and estimating species richness. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71 1501–1506

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scupham AJ, Presley LL, Wei B, Bent E, Griffith N, McPherson M, Zhu F, Oluwadara O, Rao N, Braun J and Borneman J 2006 Abundant and diverse fungal microbiota in the murine intestine. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72 793–801

  • Silberman JD, Sogin ML, Leipe DD and Clark CG 1996 Human parasite finds taxonomic home. Nature 380 398

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singleton DR, Furlong MA, Rathbun SL and Whitman WB 2001 Quantitative comparisons of 16S rRNA gene sequence libraries from environmental samples. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67 4374–4376

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens CE and Hume ID 1998 Contributions of microbes in vertebrate gastrointestinal tract to production and conservation of nutrients. Physiol. Rev. 78 393–427

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suau A, Bonnet R and Sutren M 1999 Direct analysis of genes encoding 16SrRNA from complex communities reveals many novel molecular species within the human gut. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65 4799–4807

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weisburg WG, Barns SM, Pelletier DA and Lane DJ 1991 16S ribosomal DNA amplification for phylogenetic study. J. Bacteriol. 173 697–703

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilms R, Sass H, Ko¨pke B, Ko¨ster J, Cypionka H and Engelen B 2006 Specific bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic communities in tidal-flat sediments along a vertical profile of several meters. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72 2756–2764

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yogesh S Shouche.

Additional information

Corresponding editor: Anand Kumar Bachhawat

[Pandey PK, Siddharth J, Verma P, Bavdekar A, Patole MS and Shouche YS 2012 Molecular typing of fecal eukaryotic microbiota of human infants and their respective mothers. J. Biosci. 37 1–6] DOI

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pandey, P.K., Siddharth, J., Verma, P. et al. Molecular typing of fecal eukaryotic microbiota of human infants and their respective mothers. J Biosci 37, 221–226 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9197-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9197-3

Keywords

Navigation