WEHI PhD Completion Seminar hosted by Professor Aaron Jex

Imadh Abdul Azeez

PhD Student – Jex Laboratory, Infection and Global Health division, WEHI

Benchmarking microbiome data analysis tools to assess the impact of iron and zinc supplementation on the infant gut microbiome in Bangladesh

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIphdcompletion

Including Q&A session

Followed by refreshments in tapestry area

The gut microbiome comprises a diverse array of microorganisms that play a crucial role in an individual’s overall health. The first few years of life are marked by shifts in the infant gut microbiome in response to various stimuli. Of these factors, nutrition is believed to be an important modulator of the gut microbiome, of which micronutrients are an essential aspect. In lower- and middle-income countries such as Bangladesh, the prevalence of micronutrient deficiency has led to the regular use of oral micronutrient supplements, such as zinc and iron. Despite this, the actual impact these supplements have on the gut microbiome is not well catalogued, and many microbiome studies are highly variable, with contradictory results. The underlying choices in data analytics, including bioinformatics and differential abundance analysis (DAA) tools, heavily influence this variability. Appropriate benchmarking is required to identify the most suitable tools to use. However, previous benchmarking studies often fail to account for the complexity of feature count distributions in microbiome datasets and are limited to in silico benchmarking methods. The use of real biological datasets using faecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) is an alternative approach we apply to select the preferred data analysis tools for the microbiome analysis.

Using these preferred tools, we attempted to analyse the infant gut microbiome from cohorts of infants in Bangladesh as part of zinc and iron supplementation trials. To account for taxonomic and functional changes, we analysed both the metagenome and metatranscriptome, assessing changes in terms of composition, differential abundance, and trend-based analysis. Together, this produces a comprehensive understanding of the impact of zinc and iron on these microbiome profiles, potentially providing insight as to the impact routine supplementation in LMICs may have on infant gut health.

All welcome!