The Gut Microbiota of Rural Papua New Guineans: Composition, Diversity Patterns, and Ecological Processes

Authors

Ines Martinez, University of Alberta & University of Nebraska - Lincoln
James C. Stegen, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Maria X. Maldonado-Gomez, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A. Murat Eren, Marine Biological Laboratory
Peter M. Siba, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research
Andrew R. Greenhill, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research & Federation University AustraliaFollow
Jens Walter, University of Alberta & University of Nebraska- Lincoln & University of AlbertaFollow

Date of this Version

4-16-2015

Citation

2015 The Authors

Comments

Cell Reports 11, 527–538, April 28 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.03.049

Abstract

Although recent research revealed an impact of westernization on diversity and composition of the human gut microbiota, the exact consequences on metacommunity characteristics are insufficiently understood, and the underlying ecological mechanisms have not been elucidated. Here, we have compared the fecal microbiota of adults from two non-industrialized regions in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with that of United States (US) residents. Papua New Guineans harbor communities with greater bacterial diversity, lower inter-individual variation, vastly different abundance profiles, and bacterial lineages undetectable in US residents. A quantification of the ecological processes that govern community assembly identified bacterial dispersal as the dominant process that shapes the microbiome in PNG but not in the US. These findings suggest that the microbiome alterations detected in industrialized societies might arise from modern lifestyle factors limiting bacterial dispersal, which has implications for human health and the development of strategies aimed to redress the impact of westernization.