Reconstruction of Metabolic Activity of the Gut Microbiota in Children and Adults with Obesity and Its Relationship with the Representation of Alkylresorcinols in Stool Samples

The human body is a superorganism whose performance depends on trillions of residential microbial cells. Evolving together with the host, the microbiota formed the phenotypes of our ancestors. Mutations emerging in the process of natural selection led to a co-adaptation of the host organism and microbial cells to environmental conditions. The composition and metabolic activity of the gut microbiota influence multiple physiological processes, as well as the development of pathological conditions and dysmetabolic syndrome that includes obesity. Alkylresorcinols (ARs) are biologically active polyphenolic compounds, mainly plant- or microbial-derived, that have the ability to highly affect host metabolism and the composition of the gut microbiota. In the present study, we carried out metagenomic sequencing of microbial DNA isolated from the stool samples of 401 metabolically healthy and obese children and adults, and also determined the content of various AR homologs in these samples. Using the high-throughput sequencing data, we reconstructed the metabolic potential of the gut microbiota and assessed the correlations between the content of various AR homologs and the representation of bacterial genes encoding various enzymes (KEGG database) in stool samples. Based on the results obtained, we revealed the features of functional changes in the intestinal microbiota in adults and children with obesity.