Gut Microbiome of Coexisting BaAka Pygmies and Bantu Reflects Gradients of Traditional Subsistence Patterns
- Gomez, Andres [ Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota ]
- Petrzelkova, Klara J. [ Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Liberec Zoo ]
- Burns, Michael B. [ Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota ]
- Yeoman , Carl [ Montana State University: Animal & Range Sciences ]
- Amato, Katherine R. [ Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University ]
- Vlckova, Klara [ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology and Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences,Czech Republic ]
- Modry, David [ Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; CEITEC, Central European Institute for Technology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences ]
- Todd, Angelique [ Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, World Wildlife Fund, Bayanga, Central African Republic ]
- Jost Robinson, Carolyn A. [ Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina ]
- Remis, Melissa J. [ Department of Anthropology, Purdue University ]
- Torralba, Manolito G. [ The J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA ]
- Morton, Elise [ Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota ]
- Umaña, Juan D. [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
- Carbonero, Franck [ Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas ]
- Gaskins, H. Rex [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
- Nelson, Karen E. [ The J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA ]
- Wilson, Brenda A. [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
- Stumpf, Rebecca M. [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
- White, Bryan A. [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
- Leigh, Steven R. [ Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado ]
- Blekhman, Ran [ Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota ]
To understand how the gut microbiome is impacted by human adaptation to varying environments, we explored gut bacterial communities in the BaAka rainforest hunter-gatherers and their agriculturalist Bantu neighbors in the Central African Republic. Although the microbiome of both groups is compositionally similar, hunter-gatherers harbor increased abundance of Prevotellaceae, Treponema, and Clostridiaceae, while the Bantu gut microbiome is dominated by Firmicutes. Comparisons with US Americans reveal microbiome differences between Africans and westerners but show western-like features in the Bantu, including an increased abundance of predictive carbohydrate and xenobiotic metabolic pathways. In contrast, the hunter-gatherer gut shows increased abundance of predicted virulence, amino acid, and vitamin metabolism functions, as well as dominance of lipid and amino-acid-derived metabolites, as determined through metabolomics. Our results demonstrate gradients of traditional subsistence patterns in two neighboring African groups and highlight the adaptability of the microbiome in response to host ecology.