Welcome to Gut Explorer
The interplay between diet and gut-microbiome composition is complex. Blood and urine metabolomes have been studied as sources of metabolic biomarkers for dietary exposure, yet the faecal metabolome, an important indicator of gut microbial activity, has received little attention in this context. Faecal metabolites, the end products of both human and microbial metabolism, offer valuable insights into the complex interactions between diet and the gut microbiome.
Here we integrated faecal metabolomics, metagenomics, and habitual dietary data from 1,810 individuals from the TwinsUK and 837 from the ZOE PREDICT1 cohorts. Using Linear mixed effects regression models, accounting for age, sex, BMI and twin family structure, we identified 414 associations between 19 food groups and 211 metabolites. Of these dietary associated metabolites, we find that they are highly associated with the gut microbiome, bridging the gap between diet and the gut microbiome.
We therefore present MetaboGut, an online database of results of these analyses, exploring associations between diet, faecal metabolites and gut microbial species in two large UK-based cohorts. If you have feedback or questions regarding the database please contact mario.falchi@kcl.ac.uk or robert.pope@kcl.ac.uk .
Reference
Pope R., et al, Faecal metabolites as a readout of habitual diet that mediate dietary interactions with the gut microbiome, Under Revision
Instructions
The tabs in the top left-hand corner provide access to the results of association studies across dietary food and beverage groups, faecal metabolites, and gut microbial species. Each set of associations is presented in a dedicated table within its respective tab.
On the left-hand panel, users can select the set of associations they would like to explore, filter these results by specific variables, set a custom –log₁₀(p-value) threshold for significance, and download the filtered data.
Within each tab, the Results Table displays the outcomes of the fixed-effects meta-analysis of TwinsUK and PREDICT-1 based on the selected criteria. A custom search of these results is available using the search bar in the top right corner.
The Heatmap β visualizes these associations as a clustered heatmap: red tiles indicate positive associations, blue tiles indicate negative associations, and white tiles indicate associations that are not significant based on the selected threshold. The Clustering option allows users to group the filtered associations by either of the two variables for enhanced pattern recognition.