Background: With the advent of metagenomics, many large studies have been conducted with the quest of better understanding gut microbiota changes in relation to varying health conditions. Significant findings have been made for diseases such as cirrhosis, colorectal cancers, inflammatory bowel diseases and others, yet one that stands out is obesity for which conflicting results have been reported in the literature.
Methods: Here, we built and analyzed a cross-study dataset of healthy and obese individuals looking for major changes in the the taxonomic and functional composition of their metagenomes.
Results: Our results suggest that the overweight and normal subjects have no strong dissimilarity in their metagenomes composition. Significant differences were observed when comparing the obese and the non-obese individuals in their functional and taxonomic profiles.
Conclusion: In this study, we report the most significant changes that we observed and discuss their potential implication in the obesity condition.