Microbiome profiles shift in the probiotic responders
SEPARATION
To characterize participants’ microbiomes, fecal samples were subjected to 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and amplicon sequenced variants (ASVs) were assigned.Probiotic responders exhibit distinct microbiome profiles. (a) Within-participant Bray-Curtis distance of amplicon sequenced variants (ASVs) relative to the first baseline time point (week 0) plotted over time by arm (unpaired t-test p values for each time point between arms are shown) (n=13 placebo; n=26 probiotic). (b) Within-participant Bray-Curtis distance, week 0 vs. week 10 by arm and response group (n=14 R; n=12 NR). (c) Bray-Curtis distance of the ASVs for the placebo, probiotic responders and non-responders at the end of the intervention (week 10) are plotted. Circles denote 50% confidence level for a multivariate t-distribution. ASVs driving the separation between groups are depicted as green circles, collapsed to average loading across genus. Size of green circles indicate prevalence (% present across all samples at week 10).Despite response group-specific changes to the microbiota, neither baseline microbiota composition (ASV relative abundance) nor alpha diversity could predict response to the probiotic (leave-one-out cross-validated random forest). Similarly, baseline measurements of blood pressure, waist circumference, serum metabolomics, and circulating inflammatory and gender were not correlated with response group (SAM, FDR > 0.05).