Metagenomic and Metabolomic Analysis of the Toxic Effects of Trichloroacetamide-Induced Gut Microbiome and Urine Metabolome Perturbations in Mice

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water have been linked to various diseases, including colon, colorectal, rectal, and bladder cancer. Trichloroacetamide (TCAcAm) is an emerging nitrogenous DBP, and our previous study found that TCAcAm could induce some changes associated with host–gut microbiota co-metabolism. In this study, we used an integrated approach combining metagenomics, based on high-throughput sequencing, and metabolomics, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), to evaluate the toxic effects of TCAcAm exposure on the gut microbiome and urine metabolome. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the gut microbiome’s composition and function were significantly altered after TCAcAm exposure for 90 days in Mus musculus mice. In addition, metabolomic analysis showed that a number of gut microbiota-related metabolites were dramatically perturbed in the urine of the mice. These results may provide novel insight into evaluating the health risk of environmental pollutants as well as revealing the potential mechanism of TCAcAm’s toxic effects.