Metagenomic sequencing of diabetes progression in the UC Davis Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Rat Model

The aim of this study was to characterize how changes in host metabolic health alters the cecal microbiome in a diet independent rat model of diabetes. While there are several reports in humans and rodents describing differing gut bacterial communities in obese/diabetic groups compared to normal weight and/or healthy groups, it is not known whether this is due to differences in dietary intake or mediated by obesity and or differences in host physiology. The UC Davis Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (UCDT2DM) Rat model spontaneously develops adult-onset diabetes with functional leptin signaling, providing a rodent model that most closely resembles the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes in humans. We assessed differences in bacterial taxonomic and functional gene clusters in age matched sets of male UCDT2DM rats at differing stages of diabetes progression: Prior to the onset of diabetes (PD n=15), 2 weeks post onset of diabetes (RD, n=10), 3 months post onset of diabetes (D3M, n=11), and 6 months post onset of diabetes (D6M, n=8). Lean Sprague Dawley rats were used as a model of healthy non-diabetic controls (LSD, n=12).