TY - JOUR AB - Sulfur metabolism and sulfur-containing metabolites play an important role in the human digestive system, and sulfur compounds and pathways are associated with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In fact, cysteine metabolism results in the production of taurine and sulfate, and gut microbes catabolize them into hydrogen sulfide, a signaling molecule with various biological functions. Besides metabolites originating from sulfur metabolism, several other sulfur-containing metabolites of different classes were detected in human feces, consisting of non-volatile and volatile compounds. Sulfated steroids and bile acids such as taurine-conjugated bile acids are the major classes along with sulfur amino acids and sulfur-containing peptides. Indeed, sulfur-containing metabolites were described in stool samples from healthy subjects, patients suffering from colorectal cancer or IBD. In metabolomics-driven studies, around 50 known sulfur-containing metabolites were linked to IBD. Taurine, taurocholic acid, taurochenodeoxycholic acid, methionine, methanethiol and hydrogen sulfide were regularly reported in IBD studies, and most of them were elevated in stool samples from IBD patients. We summarized from this review that there is strong interplay between perturbed gut microbiota in IBD, and the consistently higher abundance of sulfur-containing metabolites, which potentially represent substrates for sulfidogenic bacteria such as Bilophila or Escherichia and promote their growth. These bacteria might shift their metabolism towards the degradation of taurine and cysteine and therefore to a higher hydrogen sulfide production. AU - Walker, A. AU - Schmitt-Kopplin, P. C1 - 62319 C2 - 50771 CY - Hackerbrucke 6, 80335 Munich, Germany TI - The role of fecal sulfur metabolome in inflammatory bowel diseases. JO - Int. J. Med. Microbiol. VL - 311 IS - 5 PB - Elsevier Gmbh PY - 2021 SN - 1438-4221 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The review highlights the role of metabolomics in studying human gut microbial metabolism. Microbial communities in our gut exert a multitude of functions with huge impact on human health and disease. Within the meta-omics discipline, gut microbiome is studied by (meta)genomics, (meta)transcriptomics, (meta)proteomics and metabolomics. The goal of metabolomics research applied to fecal samples is to perform their metabolic profiling, to quantify compounds and classes of interest, to characterize small molecules produced by gut microbes. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are main technologies that are applied in fecal metabolomics. Metabolomics studies have been increasingly used in gut microbiota related research regarding health and disease with main focus on understanding inflammatory bowel diseases. The elucidated metabolites in this field are summarized in this review. We also addressed the main challenges of metabolomics in current and future gut microbiota research. The first challenge reflects the need of adequate analytical tools and pipelines, including sample handling, selection of appropriate equipment, and statistical evaluation to enable meaningful biological interpretation. The second challenge is related to the choice of the right animal model for studies on gut microbiota. We exemplified this using NMR spectroscopy for the investigation of cross-species comparison of fecal metabolite profiles. Finally, we present the problem of variability of human gut microbiota and metabolome that has important consequences on the concepts of personalized nutrition and medicine. AU - Smirnov, K. AU - Maier, T.V. AU - Walker, A. AU - Heinzmann, S.S. AU - Forcisi, S. AU - Martinez, I.* AU - Walter, J.* AU - Schmitt-Kopplin, P. C1 - 48194 C2 - 41052 CY - Jena SP - 266-279 TI - Challenges of metabolomics in human gut microbiota research. JO - Int. J. Med. Microbiol. VL - 306 IS - 5 PB - Elsevier Gmbh, Urban & Fischer Verlag PY - 2016 SN - 1438-4221 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The causative agent of Q fever, Coxiella burnetii, is a query agent occurring naturally all over the world. We studied 104 German Coxiella burnetii strains/DNA samples obtained between 1969 and 2011 using a 14 microsatellite marker Multiple-locus variable-number of tandem repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) technique. We were able to divide our collection into 32 different genotypes clustered into four major groups (A-D). Two of these (A and C) formed predominant clonal complexes that covered 97% of all studied samples. Group C consisted exclusively of cattle-associated isolates/DNA specimens, while group A comprised all other affected species including all sheep-derived strains/DNA samples. Within this second cluster, two major genotypes (A1, A2) were identified. Genotype A2 occurred in strains isolated from ewes in northern and central Germany, whereas genotype A1 was found in most areas of Germany. MLVA analysis of C. burnetii strains from neighbouring countries revealed a close relationship to German strains. We thus hypothesize that there is a western and central European cluster of C. burnetii. We identified predominant genotypes related to relevant host species and geographic regions which is in line with findings of the Dutch Q fever outbreak (2007-2010). Furthermore three of our analyzed German strains are closely related to the Dutch outbreak clone. These findings support the theory of predominant genotypes in the context of regional outbreaks. Our results show that a combination of 8 MLVA markers provides the highest discriminatory power for attributing C. burnetii isolates to genotypes. For future epidemiological studies we propose the use of three MLVA markers for easy and rapid classification of C. burnetii into 4 main clusters. AU - Frangoulidis, D.* AU - Walter, M. AU - Antwerpen, M.* AU - Zimmermann, P.* AU - Janowetz, B.* AU - Alex, M.* AU - Böttcher, J.* AU - Henning, K.* AU - Hilbert, A.* AU - Ganter, M.* AU - Runge, M.* AU - Münsterkötter, M. AU - Splettstoesser, W.D.* AU - Hanczaruk, M.* C1 - 31793 C2 - 34762 SP - 868-876 TI - Molecular analysis of Coxiella burnetii in Germany reveals evolution of unique clonal clusters. JO - Int. J. Med. Microbiol. VL - 304 IS - 7 PY - 2014 SN - 1438-4221 ER - TY - JOUR AU - Frangoulidis, D.* AU - Reis, S.* AU - Kahlhofer, C.* AU - Walter, M. C1 - 30923 C2 - 34016 CY - Jena SP - 115 TI - Whole Genome Amplification (WGA) in Coxiella diagnostics and typing. JO - Int. J. Med. Microbiol. VL - 303 PB - Elsevier Gmbh, Urban & Fischer Verlag PY - 2013 SN - 1438-4221 ER - TY - JOUR AU - Walter, M. AU - Frangoulidis, D.* C1 - 30922 C2 - 34017 CY - Jena SP - 80 TI - The art of (Coxiella) genome sequencing. JO - Int. J. Med. Microbiol. VL - 303 PB - Elsevier Gmbh, Urban & Fischer Verlag PY - 2013 SN - 1438-4221 ER -