Metataxonomic and functional analysis of the human gut microbiome associated with COVID-19 patients

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, was responsible for a pandemic that affected the world at the end of 2019. The human intestinal microbiota plays a vital role in the body's functions, including immune system development. The present study examined the effects of COVID-19 on the microbial communities of patients affected by using the Metabarcoding approach. The bacterial community was abundant (> 99.50 %) in all samples. The main Phyla of bacteria found were Firmicutes and Bacteroidota. At the genus level, Blautia was the gut microbe significantly more abundantly present in patients with severe disease symptoms. Analyses of functional pathways highlight the presence of taxonomic groups involved in metabolic pathways responsible for producing compounds that mediate the immune response and have anti-inflammatory properties, mainly in stool samples from sick patients. The results of the present study demonstrated the biotechnological potential that Metabarcoding technology presents in evaluating the intestinal microbiota, as well as the main metabolic pathways involved in this infectious process. However, multi-omics techniques using a larger number of clinical samples may be a more promising approach to better understand the functionality of intestinal microbial communities in patients with COVID-19. • Metataxonomic and functional analysis of the human gut. • Microbiome from stool samples of COVID-19 patients. • Pathways of immune response and anti-inflammatory properties. • Techniques using a larger number of samples to understand the intestinal microbiome.