Susceptibility to amyloid-related neurodegenerative diseases evoked by functional amyloid proteins of the gut microbiome – a comparative study of European and African populations

Amyloids are proteins able to form very regular insoluble fibrils. They are associated with erroneously folded proteins and related to the onset of amyloid diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and many others. However, there is also a wide class of functional amyloids purposefully forming fibrils, which perform their physiological functions thanks to the fibrillar structure. Among others, they are widely produced by bacteria from the human gut microbiome. Recent research showed that certain bacterial families, secreting functional amyloid proteins, can affect human proteins facilitating the onset of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. Geography, and lifestyle shape the human gut microbiome. Consequently, susceptibility to certain diseases, triggered by microbiome-related proteins, may differ. The project involves a comparative metagenomic study of the selected populations of Africa and Europe, regarding the morbidity with amyloid-related disease. The complexity of a highly varied microbiome in different populations should reveal more nuances for a tentative link between amyloid-related diseases and functional amyloids expressed by the intestinal microbiota.