Cited by 976Gut microbiota and healthAutism Spectrum Disorder ResearchGastrointestinal motility and disorders

Reduced incidence of Prevotella and other fermenters in intestinal microflora of autistic children

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Kang, Dae-Wook, Park, Jin Gyoon, Ilhan, Zehra Esra, Wallstrom, Garrick, LaBaer, Joshua, Adams, James B., Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa·2013·PLoS ONE

Abstract

High proportions of autistic children suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, implying a link between autism and abnormalities in gut microbial functions. Increasing evidence from recent high-throughput sequencing analyses indicates that disturbances in composition and diversity of gut microbiome are associated with various disease conditions. However, microbiome-level studies on autism are limited and mostly focused on pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, here we aimed to define systemic changes in gut microbiome associated with autism and autism-related GI problems. We recruited 20 neurotypical and 20 autistic children accompanied by a survey of both autistic severity and GI symptoms. By pyrosequencing the V2/V3 regions in bacterial 16S rDNA from fecal DNA samples, we compared gut microbiomes of GI symptom-free neurotypical children with those of autistic children mostly presenting GI symptoms. Unexpectedly, the presence of autistic symptoms, rather than the severity of GI symptoms, was associated with less diverse gut microbiomes. Further, rigorous statistical tests with multiple testing corrections showed significantly lower abundances of the genera Prevotella, Coprococcus, and unclassified Veillonellaceae in autistic samples. These are intriguingly versatile carbohydrate-degrading and/or fermenting bacteria, suggesting a potential influence of unusual diet patterns observed in autistic children. However, multivariate analyses showed that autism-related changes in both overall diversity and individual genus abundances were correlated with the presence of autistic symptoms but not with their diet patterns. Taken together, autism and accompanying GI symptoms were characterized by distinct and less diverse gut microbial compositions with lower levels of Prevotella, Coprococcus, and unclassified Veillonellaceae.

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  • Cross-sectional studies comparing the gut microbiota composition between healthy and ASD individuals have revealed an altered microbiota profile in patients with ASD, with several studies reporting increased levels of Clostridium and Lactobacillus along with elevated levels of SCFAs, including propionic and butyric acid.

    “Cross-sectional studies comparing the gut microbiota composition between healthy and ASD individuals have revealed an altered microbiota profile in patients with ASD, with several studies reporting increased levels of Clostridium and Lactobacillus along with elevated levels of SCFAs, including propionic and butyric acid (Wang et al., 2012, 2013; De Angelis et al., 2013; Kang et al., 2013).”

    From Microbiome–microglia connections via the gut–brain axis (2019) · cites this paper as Kang et al., 2013

  • Reduced bacterial diversity and increased biomass have been reported in individuals with ASD.

    “Nevertheless, reduced bacterial diversity and increased biomass were reported in individuals with ASD [228,230].”
  • ASD is associated with reduced amounts of Prevotella, Corprococcus, Veilonellaceae, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria.

    “The most important may be reduced amounts of Prevotella, Corprococcus, and Veilonellaceae (participating in carbohydrate ingestion and fermentation), Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria [228]”
  • In impaired BBB, LPS or SCFAs may cause brain inflammation and facilitate access to the brain for harmful substances like heavy metals.

    “In the case of impaired BBB, which can be observed in certain (but not all) autistic subjects [37,254], LPS or SCFAs may cause brain inflammation and thus, further facilitate access to the brain for harmful substances, like heavy metals, that can accumulate there [228,246,255].”
  • The last three studies indicated decreases in alpha diversity, but the studies came from one laboratory.

    “The last three studies indicated decreases; however, the studies came from one laboratory [39–41].”

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Authors
Kang, D.-W., Park, J. G., Ilhan, Z. E., Wallstrom, G., LaBaer, J., Adams, J. B., & Krajmalnik-Brown, R.
Affiliations
Arizona State University (US)
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2013-07-03
Volume
8
Issue
7
Pages
e68322
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2149756110
Cited by
976
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 36 · 2025: 75 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 83 · 2021: 114 · 2020: 85 · 2019: 100 · 2018: 94 · 2017: 53 · 2016: 74 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 14
FWCI
26.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Arizona State University Library Digital Repository (Arizona State University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Autism Research Institute
  • National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, gut microbiota, gastrointestinal symptoms, Prevotella, Coprococcus, Veillonellaceae, microbial diversity, autism severity, diet patterns, fecal microbiota, children
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Autistic Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Humans, Male, Phylogeny, ROC Curve, Incidence, Cluster Analysis, Bacteroidaceae Infections, Prevotella, Gastrointestinal Tract, Biodiversity, Metagenome, Microbiota

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