Seasonal cycling in the gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania

Authors

Samuel A. Smits, Stanford University School of Medicine
Jeff Leach, Human Food Project
Erica D. Sonnenburg, Stanford University School of Medicine
Carlos G. Gonzalez, Stanford University School of Medicine
Joshua S. Lichtman, Stanford University School of Medicine
Gregor Reid, The University of Western Ontario
Rob Knight, Center for Microbiome Innovation
Alphaxard Manjurano, National Institute for Medical Research Tanga
John Changalucha, National Institute for Medical Research Tanga
Joshua E. Elias, Stanford University School of Medicine
Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, New York University
Justin L. Sonnenburg, Stanford University School of Medicine

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-25-2017

Journal

Science

Volume

357

Issue

6353

First Page

802

Last Page

805

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1126/science.aan4834

Abstract

Although humans have cospeciated with their gut-resident microbes, it is difficult to infer features of our ancestral microbiome. Here, we examine the microbiome profile of 350 stool samples collected longitudinally for more than a year from the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. The data reveal annual cyclic reconfiguration of the microbiome, in which some taxa become undetectable only to reappear in a subsequent season. Comparison of the Hadza data set with data collected from 18 populations in 16 countries with varying lifestyles reveals that gut community membership corresponds to modernization: Notably, the taxa within the Hadza that are the most seasonally volatile similarly differentiate industrialized and traditional populations. These data indicate that some dynamic lineages of microbes have decreased in prevalence and abundance in modernized populations.