Research teams at Kiel University and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein report that industrialization is linked to profound changes in the human gut microbiome, from the diversity of microbial communities to the genomes of individual bacteria. The findings come from two studies published in Cell, based on samples collected by the Global Microbiome Conservancy (GMbC), an international initiative established a decade ago to study and preserve gut microbiome diversity.
The researchers examined how geography, lifestyle, diet and genetics relate to the gut microbiome, accounting for the ways these factors interact. They found that people living in highly industrialized societies tended to have less diverse and more similar microbial communities. As a result, people in geographically distant places could have comparable bacterial species despite differences in diet, genetic background and culture, said study co-author Mathieu Groussin.
The team also found that bacterial interactions in industrialized microbiomes were concentrated around fewer species. Researchers said this could mean the community has less functional redundancy if key species are lost. Samples from people in highly industrialized societies also showed elevated inflammatory markers and immune-response signatures, particularly in the gut’s mucosal layer. The researchers said these findings suggest that microbiome changes may affect the body’s physiology, though further work is needed to understand their role in disease.
A second study examined 10 bacterial species from populations with different levels of industrialization. Across the species analyzed, an industrialized lifestyle was associated with larger genomes and greater genomic plasticity, including more frequent gene exchange between microbes. The researchers also identified DNA mutations associated with industrialization, including changes affecting proteins involved in stress responses and adaptation to the environment.
The teams plan to expand the GMbC collection to more countries and investigate which changes make industrialized microbiomes more vulnerable to disruption and how those changes may relate to disease or infection susceptibility. The two papers were produced with international collaborators, including researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sources: Phys.org.