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Updated: May 13, 2026
06:51
Cefoperazone-treated Mouse Model of Clinically-relevant Clostridium difficile Strain R20291
Published on: December 10, 2016
Gut microbiota patterns associated with colonization of different Clostridium difficile ribotypes
Jure Skraban1, Saso Dzeroski, Bernard Zenko
1Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
Plos One
|March 8, 2013
Summary
Disturbed gut microbiota, including bacteria, fungi, and archaea, is linked to Clostridioides difficile infection. Machine learning identified specific microbial patterns predicting C. difficile colonization and differentiating ribotypes.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Computational Biology
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is associated with significant alterations in gut microbiota composition.
- Previous studies have described changes in bacterial taxa, but a comprehensive analysis of bacterial, fungal, and archaeal communities in CDI is less explored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the bacterial, fungal, and archaeal microbiota in healthy individuals and patients with suspected or confirmed CDI.
- To identify microbial patterns predictive of CDI colonization and differentiate between C. difficile ribotypes using machine learning.
Main Methods:
- Denaturing High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (DHPLC) for microbiota analysis.
- Machine learning algorithms applied to 208 fecal samples from healthy volunteers and routine clinical samples.
- Categorization of routine samples based on stool consistency, C. difficile presence/absence, and ribotype (027 vs. non-027).
Main Results:
- Lower overall microbiota diversity was observed in all routine samples, not exclusively in C. difficile colonized individuals.
- Significant differences in bacterial, fungal, and archaeal components were detected between healthy donors and C. difficile positive samples.
- Machine learning identified predictive microbiota composition patterns for C. difficile colonization, which varied between ribotype 027 and other C. difficile ribotypes. Bifidobacterium longum was associated with C. difficile negative samples.
Conclusions:
- Gut microbiota disturbances, encompassing bacteria, fungi, and archaea, are common in routine samples and not solely indicative of C. difficile colonization.
- Specific combinations of gut microbes, rather than single species, are associated with C. difficile carriage.
- Certain C. difficile ribotypes, particularly ribotype 027, may be linked to more profound microbiota disturbances compared to others.
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