Microbiologists from Stanford University studied the impact of changes associated with industrialization and
Researchers have sequenced the gut microbiome fromfecal samples from the Hadza people, an indigenous hunter-gatherer society that survives in northern Tanzania. The data obtained was compared with bacteria in the intestines of the inhabitants of Nepal and California.
The analysis showed that in the Hadza microbiome there werean average of 730 types of intestinal microbes. The average California gut microbiome contained only 277 species. And the Nepalese was in between: people leading a farming lifestyle had an average of 436 types of microbes, and gatherers had 317.
Researchers have discovered in the microbiomes of peoplea Hadza species of bacteria that was not present in the California samples. For example, the corkscrew bacterium Treponema succinifaciens. Interestingly, even in samples from the intestines of Tanzanian hunter-gatherers, it was not always found. Researchers believe that this bacterium is gradually dying out as societies become more industrialized.
On the contrary, in samples obtained from representatives"Western" civilization, bacteria with signs of reaction to oxidative damage are more often present. Microbiologists believe that they are associated with chronic intestinal irritations.
In total, the researchers sequenced more than 90,000genomes of microbes found in the human gut, including bacteria, viruses that infect bacteria, and unicellular organisms (archaea and eukaryotes). About 44% of them have not been described in existing databases, and more than a thousand belong to new species of bacteria or archaea.
Researchers believe that the study of microbiomesrepresentatives of traditional societies will help to better understand how beneficial bacteria respond to lifestyle changes, what health consequences this can lead to and, ultimately, how to treat diseases associated with changes.
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On the cover: hunters of the Hadza people. Image: Eid John, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons