1. Clostridia isolated from helminth-colonized humans promote the life cycle of Trichuris species
- Author
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Shushan Sargsian, Ze Chen, Soo Ching Lee, Amicha Robertson, Rafaela Saes Thur, Julia Sproch, Joseph C. Devlin, Mian Zi Tee, Yi Xian Er, Richard Copin, Adriana Heguy, Alejandro Pironti, Victor J. Torres, Kelly V. Ruggles, Yvonne A.L. Lim, Jeffrey Bethony, P’ng Loke, and Ken Cadwell
- Subjects
Life Cycle Stages ,Trichuris ,Helminths ,Humans ,Animals ,Firmicutes ,Trichuriasis ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - Abstract
Soil-transmitted intestinal worms known as helminths colonize over 1.5 billion people worldwide. Although helminth colonization has been associated with altered composition of the gut microbiota, such as increases in Clostridia, individual species have not been isolated and characterized. Here, we isolate and sequence the genome of 13 Clostridia from the Orang Asli, an indigenous population in Malaysia with a high prevalence of helminth infections. Metagenomic analysis of 650 fecal samples from urban and rural Malaysians confirm the prevalence of species corresponding to these isolates and reveal a specific association between Peptostreptococcaceae family members and helminth colonization. Remarkably, Peptostreptococcaceae isolated from the Orang Asli display superior capacity to promote the life cycle of whipworm species, including hatching of eggs from Trichuris muris and Trichuris trichiura. These findings support a model in which helminths select for gut colonization of microbes that support their life cycle.
- Published
- 2022