Novel approaches to investigate the potential of the gut microbiome for future preventive interventions for cardiometabolic disease

For tailoring of novel precision nutrition- or therapeutic gut microbiome (GM)-based approaches for prevention of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), robust evidence from large cohorts that cover the inter-individual variability of GM is needed.

In three prospective Swedish cohorts (N=12248) we have performed sequencing of stool samples by the metagenomic (MG) species (MGS) concept and identified MGSs including bacteriophages (BPs).

By ecological-, statistical-, machine-learning- and omics-integrative methods we will investigate a) the interplay between gut bacteria and BPs; b) associations and hidden connections between GM features (diversity, MGS-abundance, genes, pathways) and circulating metabolites and diet in relation to CMD and CMD prediction; and c) study causal connections by Mendelian Randomization.

Further, d) we use novel ultra-high resolution MG-profiling to map the earlier unstudied within-species phylogenetic variance to identify clade specific traits and potential novel probiotic strains.

Our project has capacity to identify causal gut microbiome related factors of importance for CMD, provide evidence for how CMD traits may causally affect the gut microbiome, identify risk groups for future interventions, detect potential new probiotic strains, and provide novel knowledge on the role of BPs for gut bacterial composition and for cardiometabolic health.

Project is run by applicants´ research group and with collaborators, and the expected timeline is 5-years.