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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Presence of Blastocystis in gut microbiota is associated with cognitive traits and decreased executive function.

subject

description

Growing evidence implicates the gut microbiome in cognition. Blastocystis is a common gut single-cell eukaryote parasite frequently detected in humans but its potential involvement in human pathophysiology has been poorly characterized. Here we describe how the presence of Blastocystis in the gut microbiome was associated with deficits in executive function and altered gut bacterial composition in a discovery (n = 114) and replication cohorts (n = 942). We also found that Blastocystis was linked to bacterial functions related to aromatic amino acids metabolism and folate-mediated pyrimidine and one-carbon metabolism. Blastocystis-associated shifts in bacterial functionality translated into the circulating metabolome. Finally, we evaluated the effects of microbiota transplantation. Donor's Blastocystis subtypes led to altered recipient's mice cognitive function and prefrontal cortex gene expression. In summary, Blastocystis warrant further consideration as a novel actor in the gut microbiome-brain axis. This study was partially funded by the Catalan Government (AGAUR, #SGR2017-0734, ICREA Academia Award 2021) to J.M.F.-R., Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid, Spain) through the projects PI15/01934, PI18/01022 and PI21/01361 to JMF-R, the project PI20/01090 (Co-funded by European Regional Development Fund “A way to make Europe”) to JM-P, and the project PI20/0155 to MP-O; the grants SAF2015-65878-R from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Prometeo/2018/A/133 from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain and also by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds (“A way to build Europe”), European Commission (FP7), the Catalan Government (AGAUR, #SGR2017-669, ICREA Academia Award 2020 and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020- 120029GB-I00/MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and RD21/0009/0019, European Commission-DG Research” (PainFact, H2020-SC1-2019-2-RTD-848099, QSPain Relief, H2020-SC1-2019-2-RTD-848068 to R.M.), the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RTA, #RD16/0017/0020) and the European Regional Development Fund (project No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-02-0014) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT). We also acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-099200-B-I00), and the Generalitat of Catalonia (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (2017SGR696) and Department of Health (SLT002/16/00250)) to RP; María Arnoriaga-Rodríguez is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Río Hortega (CM19/00190). JM-P is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the Miguel Servet Program project CP18/00009 (Co-funded by the European Social Fund “Investing in your future”). MJ is a “Serra-Hunter” fellow.