Shared potential metabolism trends in degraded soils and type 2 diabetes gut microbiomes

Abstract

Global change profoundly impacts microbial systems but cascading effects on human metabolic health remain largely unexplored. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is shaped by nutrition, host and environmental factors, with rapidly increasing global prevalence. Soil microbiomes shift with ecosystem degradation and influence metabolism through shaping food quality and gut microbiomes, including metabolite exposures without requiring colonization. Here, we explored functional overlaps between degraded soil microbiomes from five ecosystem quality gradients and gut microbiomes in T2D. We developed a method to translate metagenomic functional pathways to potential metabolism of biochemical compounds. In silico trend analyses revealed consistent shifts relevant to energy harvesting and management. Degraded soil microbiomes and T2D gut microbiomes exhibited increased potential metabolism for sugars and decreased potential metabolism for lignin and monomethyl branched-chain fatty acids. Our results advance the hypothesis that soil-ecosystem degradation may contribute to T2D pathogenesis through nutrient-depleted food and/or adverse shaping of gut microbiome functional capacities.