WP 5 Microbiome & Metabolome

This WP, led by Dr. John Cryan (UCC) and Dr. Jeroen Raes (VIB), will focus on identifying the role of microbiota in comorbid IBS origin. Human faecal samples will be analysed, and suitable animal models that recapitulate mental/somatic comorbidities and phenotypic features of IBS (including the combination of visceral hypersensitivity and depression/anxiety-like behaviours) will be used. In addition, the established principle of the adoptive transfer of behavioural phenotypes (via gut microbiota transplants) will be analysed using faeces collected from the different IBS cohorts (WP2). We will use both male and female animals in all studies to identify sex influence on comorbidities, due to female predominance in comorbid IBS. Moreover, these models have not yet interrogated the vulnerability and resilience to the expression of co-morbid behavioural phenotypes within the framework of stress-induced microbiota alterations. The main output of this WP will be the identification of the role of the gut microbiome in the presentation of comorbid IBS, both as an overlapping pathophysiological feature and as a mechanistically-oriented biomarker reservoir.