Gut microbiota in monozygotic twins discordant for Parkinson's disease

Differences in gut microbiota between Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and controls seem to depend on multiple – frequently unmeasured – confounders. Monozygotic twins offer a unique model for controlling several factors responsible for interpersonal variation in gut microbiota. Fecal samples from 20 monozygotic twin pairs (N=40) discordant for PD were studied (metagenomic shotgun analysis). Paired-data analysis detected minimal differences in bacterial taxa abundance at species level (Bacteroides pectinophilus [P=0.037], Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum [P=0.050] and Bifidobacterium catenulatum [P=0.025]) and in predicted metabolic pathways (primary bile acid biosynthesis [P=0.037]). Additional studies are warranted to understand the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of PD.