A Meta‐transcriptomic Analysis of Complicated Diverticulitis Tissue: The Role of Xenobiotics in the Gut

Abstract

Diverticulitis, a common inflammatory disease characterized by infected pouches in the intestinal wall, can become especially painful when complications, such as abscesses and fistulas, arise. Despite affecting over 58% of adults over the age of 60, not much is known how the gut microbiome may influence or change as a result. Herein we resected diseased and adjacent tissue from both complicated and uncomplicated diverticulitis patients, extracting DNA and RNA from all samples. 16S rRNA gene Illumina‐tag PCR was performed on all samples extracted, analysis revealing an abundance of sulfur oxidizing bacteria in complicated diseased tissue compared to their adjacent tissue counterpart. This discovery led us to perform microbial gene expression using shotgun meta‐transcriptomics analysis on these complicated diseased tissues and their adjacent counterpart tissue to confirm expression of sulfur oxidizing behavior. Instead, differential gene expression revealed a fascinating trend in the increased expression of microbial xenobiotic degradation pathways in diseased tissue. Specifically, an uptake in Cytochrome‐P450 and Glutathione S‐transferase was found. Detailing how these environmental toxin degradation enzymes could be activated or cause the excessive immune response notorious of complicated diverticulitis will have profound impacts of treatment of the disease, as well as our understanding of how xenobiotics affect human health.