To explore the composition of the intestinal microbiota in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and to identify differences in the microbiota between patients with active disease and those in remission.
Between September 2020 and June 2021, we enrolled into our study, and collected stool samples from, patients with active UC or in remission and healthy control subjects. The diagnosis of UC was based on clinical, endoscopic, radiological, and histological findings. The composition of the intestinal microbiota was determined by sequencing of the 16S rRNA V3–V4 region and by bioinformatic methods. The functional composition of the intestinal microbiota was predicted using PICRUSt 2 (Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States) software.
We found that the intestinal flora was significantly less rich and diverse in UC patients than in healthy control subjects. Beta diversity analysis revealed notable differences in the intestinal flora compositions among the three groups, but there was no statistical difference in alpha diversity between UC patients with active disease and those in remission. At the phylum level, the relative abundances of
The richness and diversity of the intestinal microbiota differed significantly among the three groups. Richness describes the state of being rich in number of intestinal bacteria, whereas diversity is the number of different species of intestinal bacteria. Different bacterial taxa could be used as biomarkers, expanding our understanding of the relationship between the intestinal microbiota microenvironment and UC in the future.