QIIME2-based pooled re-analysis of 16s rRNA sequences reveals gut microbiota dysbiosis in diabetic nephropathy mouse models

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a progressive microvascular and renal disease that develops due to chronic suffering from diabetes. Growing research evidences have suggested the role of gut microbiota dysbiosis in advancement of DN. In this regard, our study executes pooled re-analysis of publicly available 16S rRNA sequencing datasets from murine models (38 DN, 37 healthy controls (HCs), and 33 diabetic mellitus (DM) samples) using the quantitative insights into microbial ecology 2 (QIIME2) platform to explore gut microbial alterations associated with disease progression. Following quality filtration, trimmomatic, and DADA2 assisted denoising, taxonomic classification was performed using the SILVA database, and alpha diversity was assessed through shannon, faith's PD, pielou's evenness, and observed feature indices. Firmicutes and Bacteroidota were found to be the dominant group, with minor contributions from Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota. Controls showed the higher abundance of Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, and Blautia, whereas Escherichia-Shigella and Alistipes were elevated in DN groups. Alpha diversity analysis revealed insignificant differences in richness or evenness between DN and control samples, suggesting that disease-associated microbial variations are primarily driven by specific taxonomic shifts rather than overall diversity. These findings highlight the potential involvement of gut dysbiosis in DN pathophysiology and support the therapeutic relevance of targeting the gut–kidney axis.