Absolute quantitative metagenomic analysis reveals unique gut bacteria underlying berberine and metformin's...

This study aimed to evaluate the potential functional bacteria in the efficacy of two drugs in ameliorating diet-induced metabolic disorder model using absolute and relative quantification methods and to evaluate the benefit of absolute quantification compared with relative quantification. The gut microbiota is implicated in the pathogenesis of various chronic diseases, including diet-induced metabolic disorder model. Berberine (BBR) and metformin (MET) are commonly used in the clinical management of metabolic disorder, yet their effects on gut microbiota regulation differ. This study employs both relative and absolute quantitative methods to assess the differential impacts of these drugs on the modulation of gut microbiota in metabolic disorder mice. Both BBR and MET effectively ameliorate the condition of metabolic disorder. While some relative quantitative sequencing results contradicted the absolute sequencing data, the latter was more consistent with the actual microbial community composition. Absolute quantitative sequencing provides a more accurate reflection of the drug's effects. Notably, both absolute and relative quantitative sequencing demonstrated an upregulation of Akkermansia.IMPORTANCEOur study underscores the importance of absolute quantitative analysis in accurately representing the true microbial counts in a sample and evaluating the modulatory effects of drugs on the microbiome, which plays a vital role in the study of the microbiome.