ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Virus and Host
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1600470
This article is part of the Research TopicUnraveling Diarrheic Virus-Host Interactions: Mechanisms and ImplicationsView all 3 articles
Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and Metabolic Shifts in Pediatric Norovirus Infection: A Metagenomic Study in Northeast China
Provisionally accepted
- 1China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China
- 2Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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Norovirus (NoV) represents a major etiological agent of acute gastroenteritis in pediatric populations, while the mechanistic involvement of gut microbiota in NoV pathogenesis remains elusive. Utilizing metagenomic sequencing of fecal specimens collected from 12 NoV-infected pediatric cases and 13 healthy controls in Northeast China, this investigation characterized gut microbial perturbations associated with NoV infection. Longitudinal analysis revealed significant dysbiosis in NoV-infected children, marked by increased alpha diversity and distinct taxonomic shifts. Notably, Bacteroides uniformis was significantly enriched in the NoV group, alongside elevated Veillonella spp. and Carjivirus communis. Functional profiling identified upregulated pathways in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Collectively, our findings highlight NoV-induced gut microbial dysbiosis and functional remodeling, which may contribute to disease severity and persistence. This study advances our understanding of the gut microbiota's role in NoV infection and may inform future therapeutic strategies targeting microbial ecology.dysbiosis, particularly the prominence of Bacteroides uniformis, which may modulate hostpathogen interactions through metabolic or immune pathways. The identified microbial and metabolic signatures provide mechanistic insights into NoV-induced gastrointestinal dysfunction.The dysbiotic patterns and pathway alterations serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers for NoV infection. Targeting Bacteroides uniformis or restoring metabolic homeostasis through microbiotadirected interventions (e.g., probiotics, dietary modulation) could offer novel therapeutic strategies to mitigate NoV-associated morbidity in children.• NoV infection induces gut dysbiosis characterized by Bacteroides uniformis enrichment and metabolic pathway activation.• First longitudinal metagenomic profiling of NoV-infected children in Northeast China, linking microbial shifts to functional alterations.• Identifies potential microbial targets for diagnostics and microbiota-based therapies.
Keywords: Norovirus, Northeast China, gut microbial, Bacteroides uniformis, Metagenomic
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wei, Piao, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaofei Zhang, China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Hong Wang, China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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