Abundance of Plant-Associated <i>Gammaproteobacteria</i> Correlates with Immunostimulatory Activity of <i>Angelica sinensis</i>

• Main Authors: Kriti Kalpana, Diego Montenegro, Giovanna Romero, Ximena Peralta, Betul Akgol Oksuz, Adriana Heguy, Moriya Tsuji, Akira Kawamura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-05-01
• Series: Medicines
• Subjects: microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP); lipopolysaccharide (LPS); <i>Angelica sinensis</i>; Dong quai; Shi-Quan-Da-Bu-Tang; Juzen-taiho-to
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6320/6/2/62

<b>Background:</b> <i>Angelica sinensis</i> is a medicinal plant known for a variety of biological effects, including its ability to stimulate innate immune cells in humans. Recent studies indicate that the immunostimulatory activity of <i>A. sinensis</i> arises from microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) of plant-associated bacteria. However, it is unknown which bacterial taxa in <i>A. sinensis</i> are responsible for the production of immunostimulatory MAMPs. <b>Methods:</b> Samples of <i>A. sinensis</i> were subjected to a cell-based assay to detect monocyte-stimulation and 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing, which revealed their immunostimulatory activity and microbial communities. The resulting data were analyzed by Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe), an online biostatistical tool for metagenomic biomarker discovery, to identify the bacterial taxonomical features correlated with the immunostimulatory activity. <b>Results:</b> A series of bacterial taxa under <i>Gammaproteobacteria</i> correlated positively with the immunostimulatory activity, whereas several Gram-positive taxa and <i>Betaproteobacteria</i> correlated negatively with the activity. <b>Conclusions:</b> The identified bacterial taxa set a new stage to characterize immunostimulatory MAMPs in plants.