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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2006, p. 3172-3177, Vol. 44, No. 9
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.02600-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
INRA, UEPSD, CR de Jouy-en-Josas, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas, France,1 Université Paris-VI Faculté de médecine, and AP-HP, Département d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France,2 Université Paris-Descartes, Faculté de médecine, and AP-HP, Département d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie, Hôpital Lariboisiere, Paris, France3
Received 14 December 2005/ Returned for modification 31 January 2006/ Accepted 16 July 2006
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Temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE), based on 16S rRNA gene electrophoresis, is more efficient than culture for identifying bacterial groups or species within the intestinal microbiota, since more than half of all colonic bacteria cannot be cultured (5, 24). However, while traditional methods detect the presence of bacteria in the fecal and mucosal ecosystems, they provide no information on their activity. Bacterial metabolic activity depends notably on genetic factors, the local ecology, and quorum sensing. Bacteria with high metabolic activity may play a more important role in disease onset and progression, since they may secrete or express more proinflammatory molecules, but this possibility has not yet been studied in relation to IBD. The rRNA content of bacterial cells closely reflects their transcriptional activity, and TTGE of rRNA has thus been used to identify active fecal bacteria (31).
The aim of this study was to analyze the biodiversity of active bacteria in the dominant fecal microbiota of UC patients in comparison with that of healthy subjects and to identify active bacterial species (based on their rRNA content) that may be more specifically associated with UC.
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Fecal sampling. Fecal samples were divided into aliquots in sterile Starstedt 2.2-ml screw-cap tubes and placed in liquid nitrogen within 1 h after their emission. They were then stored at 80°C until analysis.
TTGE. (i) Nucleic acid isolation and amplification.
Total DNA was extracted from fecal samples as previously described (22, 25). RNA was extracted as described by Doré et al. (5). Nucleic acid concentration and integrity were determined visually by electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel containing ethidium bromide. The PCR procedures described below were designed to amplify the V6 to V8 region of rRNA genes and also to check the RNA solutions for residual DNA. The primers GCclamp-U968 (5' GCclamp-GAA CGC GAA GAA CCT TAC) and L1401 (5' GCG TGT GTA CAA GAC CC) were used to amplify the V6 to V8 regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes or rRNA, as previously described (14, 22). Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) was performed with the Geneamp Thermostable rTth reverse transcriptase RNA PCR kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.) as described by Zoetendal et al. (31). Reverse transcriptase reaction mixtures (50 µl) contained 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.3), 90 mM KCl, 1 mM MnCl2, 200 µM (each) deoxynucleoside triphosphates, 5 U of rTth DNA polymerase, 7.5 pmol of primer L1401, and 1 µl of 10- to 100-fold-diluted RNA (approximately 2 ng). The mixtures were incubated at 70°C for 15 min, and then 80 µl of PCR additive was added. The additive consisted of 4% glycerol, 8 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.3), 80 mM KCl, 0.04% Tween 20, 0.6 mM EGTA, 3.75 mM MgCl2, 50 mM (each) deoxynucleoside triphosphates, and 7.5 pmol of primer U968-GC. The samples were amplified in a PCT 100 thermocycler (MJ Research, Inc.) using the following program: 94°C for 1 min; 30 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 56°C for 30 s, 68°C for 1 min, and finally 68°C for 7 min. PCR and RT-PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel containing ethidium bromide in order to determine their sizes (
500 bp) and approximate concentrations.
(ii) TTGE analysis of PCR amplicons. We used the DCode universal mutation detection system (Bio-Rad, Paris, France) for sequence-specific separation of PCR products. Electrophoresis was performed as previously described (14, 22) at 64 mA for 16 h at an initial temperature of 66°C and a ramp rate of 0.2°C/h. To improve resolution, the voltage was set at 20 V for 15 min at the beginning of each run. Each well was loaded with 100 to 200 ng of amplified DNA plus an equal volume of 2x gel loading dye (0.05% bromophenol blue, 0.05% xylene cyanol, and 70% glycerol). We normalized the loadings to comparable quantities in order to analyze patterns with comparable intensities. Gels were stained in the dark by immersion for 30 min in a solution of SYBR Green I nucleic acid gel stain (Roche Diagnostics, GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) and were read using a Storm device (Molecular Dynamics).
Band analysis. The biodiversity of each sample was assessed from the number of bands in TTGE profiles. Bands representing DNA fragments of interest (500 bp) were removed from the gel with a 20-µl micropipette tip under UV illumination and were transferred to a 1.5-ml tube containing 200 µl of autoclaved water. After 4 min of centrifugation at 8,000 x g, the acrylamide pellet was resuspended in 100 µl of water and smashed before overnight diffusion. After 4 min of centrifugation at 8,000 x g, the supernatant containing DNA fragments was used for PCR reamplification with the same primers as above. The DNA integrity of amplicons was checked on a 1% agarose gel. To verify the correspondence between the DNA of interest on the first electrophoresis gel and the amplified DNA, we performed TTGE a second time, comparing the two samples. When the two bands comigrated, DNA fragments of interest were sent for sequencing (Genome Express, Meylan, France). The sequences were then compared to the GenBank database by using the BLAST program (Blastn, NCBI). When similarity indices between our sequences and previously described sequences exceeded 98%, we considered the sequences to correspond to the same species as the GenBank reference.
Calculations and comparisons. TTGE profiles were analyzed with Gel Compar software, version 2.0 (Applied Maths, Kortrigk, Belgium), as previously described (13). Similarity indexes (Pearson correlation method) were calculated for each pair of profiles (14, 22). Mean similarity indexes were first calculated for each patient and then for the overall study group. The results were compared by using Student's t test when the distribution was normal and otherwise with Wilcoxon's test. TTGE patterns were analyzed with GelCompar II software, which yields a spatial representation (dendrogram) based on the matrix of Pearson correlation coefficients, and by applying the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages (14, 22). The presence of the "active" E. coli band was analyzed by Fisher's exact test.
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Overall dendrogram analysis. All TTGE profiles were compared, and the results were plotted as a single dendrogram. The branching distances between two samples shows their degree of relatedness in terms of the dominant species content. DNA- and RNA-derived TTGE profiles were thus compared for each subject on the same gel. Individual subjects' RNA- and DNA-derived TTGE profiles did not cluster together, except in two patients with UC (Fig. 1). Irrespective of the initial matrix (RNA or DNA), samples tended to cluster on the basis of their clinical affiliation (UC versus C). Except for one DNA-derived amplicon, samples from the healthy controls formed a single cluster. Similarly, except for one patient and one DNA-derived amplicon from another patient, samples from patients with UC also formed a single cluster. This suggested that the UC and control groups each had specific bacterial signatures.
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FIG. 1. Dendrogram representation of the TTGE profiles of 16S rRNa gene and rRNA amplicons (obtained using primers for the V6 to V8 regions) from fecal samples of nine UC patients and nine healthy controls. The dendrogram represents a statistically optimal representation of the similarities between TTGE profiles based on the matrix of Pearson correlation coefficients and by applying the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages. RNA- and DNA-derived TTGE profiles from a given patient did not cluster together, except for two patients with UC (UC1 and UC7). Samples tended to cluster on the basis of their clinical origin (UC versus control).
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FIG. 2. TTGE of 16S rRNA gene and rRNA amplicons (obtained using primers for the V6 to V8 regions) from fecal samples from three UC patients and one control. Right side: similarity indexes (%) of paired samples. Black arrow: band present in the DNA-derived but not the RNA-derived TTGE profile. White arrow: band present in the RNA-derived but not the DNA-derived TTGE profile.
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TABLE 1. Characteristics of six bands excised and sequenced after fecal intraindividual comparisons (RNA- versus DNA-derived TTGE profiles)a
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FIG. 3. TTGE of 16S rRNA amplicons (obtained using primers for the V6 to V8 regions) from fecal samples from nine UC patients and nine controls. One band was present for eight UC patients (framed) and only two controls.
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TABLE 2. Characteristics of six bands excised after interindividual comparisons of fecal RNA-derived TTGE profilesa
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This study, based on 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA gene comparison, showed that not all fecal bacteria of patients with UC have the same transcriptional activity and that the biodiversity of the active microbiota is lower for UC patients than for healthy controls. Interestingly, an active E. coli (or related enterobacteria) was significantly associated with UC. Although the number of samples investigated could seem low, this result was statistically significant.
TTGE separates bacterial DNA fragments with similar sizes but different levels of thermal stability (22, 31). Sequences differing by a single base can be separated by this method. Applied to complex microbial communities, TTGE yields profiles corresponding to all the dominant bacterial species present in the sample. DNA patterns reflect the dominant bacterial diversity of the fecal microbiota. However, these methods do not distinguish dead bacteria from bacteria with low metabolic activity or from "transcriptionally active" bacteria. In contrast, analysis of rRNA detects only active bacteria. In our work, TTGE allowed discrimination of fewer than 20 bands in each sample, whereas sequencing clones from 16S rRNA gene libraries could give a better resolution of the composition of fecal microbiota. Nevertheless, the latter technique is still limited in terms of throughput, while TTGE is a quite powerful tool for the comparative assessment of dominant intestinal microbiota from numerous individuals. Indeed, our observations confirm that TTGE is appropriate for identifying specific traits of the dominant intestinal microbiota when comparing nutritional or pathological conditions, and they further emphasize the relevance of using RNA as a matrix rather than DNA.
As mentioned in Table 2, the best match obtained for our sequence was E. coli and some other enterobacteria (Escherichia albertii, Escherichia fergusonii, Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, and Photorhabdus luminescens). Except for the last one, which corresponds to entomopathogenic bacteria, all these bacteria are pathogenic and lead to infectious colitis in humans (1, 6, 8, 9). All patients in the present study underwent repeated stool cultures, and their clinical situation improved when they were treated (after the fecal sampling) by corticosteroids, which further suggests that they did not suffer from infectious colitis. Taken together, these data suggest that our band of interest represents nonpathogenic enterobacteria. Escherichia coli seemed the best candidate to us.
TTGE DNA profiles may be influenced by the number of rRNA operons in a given bacterial species. The number of rRNA genes ranges from 1 to as many as 15 copies (11). For example, E. coli possesses 7 rRNA operons (30), whereas Clostridium perfringens has 10 (23). A bacterium with a large number of rRNA operons might yield a more intense band on TTGE DNA gels. In contrast, TTGE RNA profiles should not be influenced by the number of rRNA operons but rather by the rRNA content, which can vary from 1,000 to 100,000 ribosomes in E. coli, for example. Bacteria containing the largest number of ribosomes and, consequently, the largest number of rRNA sequences are the most metabolically active. Zoetendal et al. (31) used this method to analyze fecal samples from two healthy subjects. They observed, as confirmed in our study, that some bands were more prominent in the TTGE RNA profiles than in the TTGE DNA profiles and concluded that not all bacteria of the fecal microbiota have the same metabolic activity. Thus, some dominant bacteria have low transcriptional activity while some subdominant bacteria can have high transcriptional activity. This is not specific to UC patients, since healthy controls show the same differences. However, we observed a reduction in the biodiversity of the active portion of the fecal microbiota in UC patients relative to healthy controls. Restricted biodiversity has also been observed in this setting by Ott et al., using single-strand conformation polymorphism (18).
In a recent work using fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis, we compared the phylogenetic group composition of fecal microbiota between UC and healthy subjects (23a). This study indicated significant differences, but restricted to Firmicutes, notably a decrease in the proportion of bacteria from the Clostridium coccoides phylogenetic group. The proportion of enterobacteria did not differ between UC and healthy subjects. This fluorescence in situ hybridization-based study allowed detection of the presence of bacteria independently of their transcriptional activity, unlike the rRNA-based TTGE approach chosen in the present work. This could thus suggest that enterobacteria may not be overrepresented in the UC fecal microbiota but that they may be particularly metabolically active (with high RNA contents).
Previous studies have shown alterations in the UC microbiota, involving Bacteroides vulgatus (16), sulfate-reducing bacteria (19), and several Enterobacteriaceae (17, 28). However, these studies did not take bacterial metabolic activity into account.
Several lines of evidence implicate E. coli dysbiosis in UC. Giaffer et al. isolated adhesive E. coli in feces from 68% of patients with UC, compared to only 6% of healthy controls (7). Likewise, an original pathovar of E. coli with entero-adhesive properties was found to be more abundant in ileal lesions of patients with Crohn's disease than in controls (3, 4). Whether these abnormalities are a cause or an effect of gut wall inflammation or mucus alteration remains to be determined. In our study, interindividual comparison of the active fecal microbiota showed reduced biodiversity and also an rRNA sequence corresponding to that of E. coli for eight of the nine UC patients. Moreover, intraindividual comparisons showed that one of six sequenced bands that were present in the RNA profile but not in the corresponding TTGE DNA profile of UC patients corresponded to that of E. coli.
Interestingly, randomized controlled trials have shown that the probiotic E. coli strain Nissle 1917, which antagonizes the growth of other E. coli strains, is as efficient as mesalazine in preventing recurrences of UC (12). E. coli Nissle 1917 might act by competing with detrimental endogenous E. coli strains (10). Other studies have shown that E. coli Nissle 1917 induces defensin expression in intestinal cell lines, and this may also suppress endogenous E. coli (29). Finally, it has been shown that perinuclear antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibodies, which are found in 60 to 90% of UC patients (20), target a recurrent protein epitope expressed by E. coli and Bacteroides caccae (2).
In conclusion, this study shows that the biodiversity of active bacteria in the dominant fecal microbiota of UC patients is lower than that of healthy subjects and that E. coli is overrepresented in UC patients' active microbiota. These findings further support the suspected role of E. coli in the onset and/or chronicity of IBD. Additional studies should also assess this during remission and within the mucosa-associated microbiota, which differs from the luminal microbiota and is in close proximity to the epithelial and immune cells.
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