A snapshot of gut microbiota of an adult urban population from Western region of India

Abstract

The human gut microbiome contributes to a broad range of biochemical and metabolic functions that directly or indirectly affect human physiology. Several recent studies have indicated that factors like age, geographical location, genetic makeup, and individual health status significantly influence the diversity, stability, and resilience of the gut microbiome. Of the mentioned factors, geographical location (and related dietary/socio-economic context) appears to explain a significant portion of microbiome variation observed in various previously conducted base-line studies on human gut microbiome. Given this context, we have undertaken a microbiome study with the objective of cataloguing the taxonomic diversity of gut microbiomes sampled from an urban cohort from Ahmedabad city in Western India. Computational analysis of microbiome sequence data corresponding to 160 stool samples (collected from 80 healthy individuals at two time-points, 60 days apart) has indicated a Prevotella-dominated microbial community. Given that the typical diet of participants included carbohydrate and fibre-rich components (predominantly whole grains and legume-based preparations), results appear to validate the proposed correlation between diet/geography and microbiome composition. Comparative analysis of obtained gut microbiome profiles with previously published microbiome profiles from US, China, Finland, and Japan additionally reveals a distinct taxonomic and (inferred) functional niche for the sampled microbiomes.

Gut microbiota features of the geographically diverse Indian population

“…The Prevotella copri was identified as the most prevalent and dominant core bacteria across a range of abundance and prevalence thresholds (Figure 5 A and B). This is in accordance with recent report on the gut microbiota of tribal as well as urban Indian populations (Dehingia et al , 2015, Bhute et al , 2016, Das et al , 2018, Tandon et al , 2018). At the genus level, the core microbiota contributed to a large fraction of the total microbiota across geographies and gender (Supplementary figure 2).…”

Initial Sequencing and Characterization of Gastrointestinal and Oral Microbiota in Urban Pakistani Adults Reveals Abnormally High Levels of Potentially Starch Metabolizing Bacteria in the General Population

“…Interestingly, the gut microbiome profile in Pakistan is more similar to the uBiome profile rather than its geographical and cultural neighbor (India). For example, in a recent study conducted in Western India, these four phyla also represented ~95% of the gut bacterial community, albeit with starkly different compositions [23]. The Indian gut microbiota was heavily skewed towards Bacteroidetes (~71% of total bacteria) whereas Pakistani gut microbiota appears skewed towards Firmicutes (46.2%, Bacteroidetes = 24.5%, Figure 2B, Table 2) and, in addition, also has a very high Proteobacteria load (15.86% vs. 3.8% in [23]).…”

“…For example, in a recent study conducted in Western India, these four phyla also represented ~95% of the gut bacterial community, albeit with starkly different compositions [23]. The Indian gut microbiota was heavily skewed towards Bacteroidetes (~71% of total bacteria) whereas Pakistani gut microbiota appears skewed towards Firmicutes (46.2%, Bacteroidetes = 24.5%, Figure 2B, Table 2) and, in addition, also has a very high Proteobacteria load (15.86% vs. 3.8% in [23]). These differences are likely due to dietary differences between the two countries, especially, since meat consumption is very high in Pakistan relative to India [26] and Indians typically prefer a plant-based diet.…”

“…In the West Indian gut microbiome study, Faecalibacterium, Bacteroides, Roseburia, Alloprevotella, and Prevotella genera comprised 80% of total bacteria in the gut [23]. The microbiome was largely dominated by Prevotella, which has been associated with fiber-rich diet [54,61].…”

“…There are stark differences in the dietary and social habits of people living in, for example, Europe, USA, and Australia compared to people living in, for example, Asia and Africa. Therefore, while microbiome-centric treatments are becoming popular in the industrialized countries, they cannot directly be applied to people living in the developing or under-developed countries [23][24][25]. Here, we attempt to bridge such knowledge gaps by presenting results of the preliminary sequencing and profiling of gut and oral microbiota in urban Pakistani adults.…”