ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Intestinal Microbiome
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1651316
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Gut Microbiota-Host Interaction through Omics: From Metabolite Profiling to Therapeutic StrategiesView all articles
Evaluation of the Gastric Microbiota Based on Body Mass Index Using 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing
Provisionally accepted
- 1Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon-si, Republic of Korea
- 2Kangwon National University, Chuncheon-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Korea University College of Medicine, Seongbuk-gu, Republic of Korea
- 4Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seongdong-gu, Republic of Korea
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Obesity is a multifactorial condition influenced by various factors, including the gut microbiota. However, the relationship between the gastric microbiota and obesity remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the composition of gastric microbiota, excluding Helicobacter pylori, in relation to body mass index (BMI) and metabolic indicators. Methods: Thirty participants undergoing health checkups were classified into three groups-normal weight (BMI 18.5-22.9), overweight (BMI 23.0-24.9), and obese (BMI ≥25.0)-with ten individuals per group. Those with H. pylori infection, atrophic gastritis, or intestinal metaplasia were excluded. Gastric microbiota from four antral biopsies per subject were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and functional profiling by metagenomic prediction. Results and Discussion: Alpha diversity (Gini-Simpson index) was significantly lower in the combined overweight/obese group than that in the normal group (P=0.049). Beta diversity analysis revealed clear group separation (Bray-Curtis, P=0.005; unweighted UniFrac, P=0.004). Significant species differences between the groups were observed; specifically, the abundances of Muribaculum gordoncarteri, Turicibacter bilis, and Duncaniella dubosii, were significantly reduced in the overweight/obese group. Functional predictions showed differential enrichment of pathways related to fatty acid, amino acid, vitamin, and carbohydrate metabolism across BMI categories. These findings suggest that alterations in the gastric microbiota may be linked to obesity and metabolic dysregulation.
Keywords: Body Mass Index, gastric microbiota, Obesity, 16S rRNA sequencing, metabolic dysregulation
Received: 21 Jun 2025; Accepted: 17 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee, Kim, Park, Nam, Cho, Jeon and Lee. 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: Sung Chul Park, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon-si, Republic of Korea
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