Background and Purpose: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has emerged for the therapeutic treatment of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) with concurrent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As the first Iranian population cohort, we examined how gut microbiota and their functional profiles change in Iranian rCDI patients with underlying IBD before and after FMT. Patients and Methods: FMT was performed to eight IBD patients via colonoscopy. Profiles of gut microbiota from donors and recipients were investigated using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Results: Patients experienced no IBD flare-ups or other adverse effects, and all recovered to full health. Moreover, all rCDI patients lacked the Bacteroidetes present in donor samples. After FMT, the proportion of Bacteroidetes increased until a normal range was achieved. More specifically, the relative abundance of Prevotella was found to increase significantly following FMT. Prevotella was also found to correlate negatively with inflammation metrics, suggesting that Prevotella may be a key factor for resolving CDI and IBD. Gut microbiota diversity was found to increase following FMT, while dysbiosis decreased. However, the similarity of microbial communities of host and recipients did not increase, and wide variation in the extent of donor stool engraftment indicated that the gut bacterial communities of recipients do not shift towards those of donors. Conclusion: FMT leads to significant alterations of the community structure of gut bacteria in rCDI patients with IBD. The change in relative abundance of Proteobacteria and bacterial diversity indicated that FMT promotes recovery from intestinal permeability and inflammation in rCDI patients. Moreover, strong negative correlation between Prevotella and inflammation index, and decreased dysbiosis index advocate that the improvement of CDI is possibly due to gut microbiome alteration. Collectively, our findings show that FMT would be a promising therapy to help reprogram the gut microbiome of Iranian rCDI patients with IBD.

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The population of the Korean fir, Abies koreana, is declining at an accelerating rate, and the average mortality rate in 2019 exceeded 36.43% on Mt. Hallasan in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Several prior studies have reported different reasons with various interpretations, indicating that additional data, such as data on microbial communities that promote plant growth and resistance to abiotic stresses, are required to understand the phenomenon further. This is the first investigation that documents the changes in the soil microbial and fungal community and soil physicochemical properties resulting from the death of the Korean fir. In our case, high throughput sequencing data have been provided for the soil microbiome and mycobiome of Korean fir trees, identifying the microbial composition differences before and after the decline in the health of Korean fir trees. The results showed that the soil fungal community was considerably shaped in response to the decline in the health of Korean fir rather than the soil bacterial community. The decline in health or the death of Korean fir trees contributed to the decrease in diversity and dominance of symbiotic fungi such as Russula, Sebacina, and Phenoliferia in the forest ecosystem. It also weakened the complexity and ecological competition of the fungal co-occurrence network. Structural equation modeling showed that the death of Korean fir was strongly associated with the concentrations of soil nutrients such as available phosphorus (P2O5) and potassium ion (K+) concentrations and low moisture content, adversely affecting the symbiotic relationship with ectomycorrhizal fungi. Our findings shed light on the critical taxa of mycobiome of live and dead A. koreana plants and their relationship with ecological edaphic factors, highlighting their potential role as biomarkers for the death of Korean fir.

Peach gummosis disease has been identified as a serious challenge in Korean agriculture and has developed to become a major cause of agricultural productivity losses. However, treatments for gummosis have not been systemically established and studies of the microbiome closely related to this plant disease are lacking. Therefore, we analyzed the bacterial and fungal communities in the bark and rhizosphere soil of healthy peach trees and those with gummosis. Through high-throughput sequencing, we obtained unprecedented insights into the bacterial and fungal dynamics of each group, including their diversity and taxonomic classification, as well as network analyses. We found that the presence of gummosis drives a significantly higher alpha diversity in the bark bacterial community. Peach gummosis bark mycobiomes included greater numbers of opportunistic pathogens such as Ascochyta, Botryosphaeria, Saccharomyces, Nectriaceae_NA, Trametes, and Valsaceae_NA. However, the microbiome also included bacteria beneficial to plant growth and the production of polysaccharides—namely, 1174-901-12, Catenibacterium, Cutibacterium, Friedmanniella, Methylobacterium-Methylorubrum, Pseudomonas, Rhodobacter, and Sphingomonas. Furthermore, we confirmed that gummosis induced a more complex structure in the bark microbiome network. We conclude that the findings of this study provide a valuable aid in profiling the overall peach tree microbial ecosystem, which can be utilized to develop precise biomarkers for the early diagnosis of gummosis.

28The gut microbiome is essential to human health. However, little is known about 29 the influence of the environment versus host-related factors (e.g. genetic 30 background, sex, age, and body mass) in the formation of human intestinal 31 microflora. Here, we present evidence in support of the importance of host-32 related factors in the establishment and maintenance of individual gut 33 assemblages. We collected fecal samples (n = 249) from 44 Korean naval 34 trainees and 39 healthy people living in Korea over eight weeks and sequenced 35 the bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) 36 microbiome function is linked to its diversity, community structure, and genetic 37 host-related factors, and 2) preexisting host-related factors have a more 38 significant effect on gut microbiome formation and composition than 39 environmental factors. For each individual, the difference between the initial gut 40 microbiota and that after eight weeks was negligible even though the 44 naval 41 trainees lived in the same area and received the same diet, the same amount of 42 exercise, and the same amount of physical stress during the study. This suggests 43 that host-related factors, rather than environmental factors, is a key determinant 44 of individual gut microflora. Moreover, eight weeks of physical training and 45 experiencing the same environmental conditions resulted in an increase in the 46 species Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, and Roseburia in most trainees, 47 suggesting a healthier intestinal environment. 48IMPORTANCE In order to understand the role of human gut microbiome, it is 49 important to know how individual's gut microbiota are formed. In this study, we 50 tested the host-related factors versus environmental factors to affect gut 51 microbiome and found that the former have a more association. However, we 52 also found that the controlled environment give an effect on the gut microflora as 53 well. This study provides preliminary evidence that differences in the formation 54 and diversity of gut microbiota within a population could be determined by host-55 related factors rather than environmental factors.