Our genes shape our gut bacteria

But a study by the University of Notre Dame found that there are far more genes at work than people have ever known

In this study, published recently in the journal Science, the researchers examined more than 16,000 gut microbiome data collected by a group of baboons in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya over the past 14 years.

Elizabeth Archie said: "In shaping the microbiome, the environment plays a greater role than your genes, but this research allows us to get rid of the idea that genes play a small role in the microbiome and turn to genes playing a broad role The view, although very small," he is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the lead researcher of the study, and is also affiliated with the Ike Global Health and Environmental Change Initiative Institute

The gut microbiota has multiple functions

Previous studies on the human gut microbiota have shown that only 5% to 13% of the microbes are heritable, but Archie and the research team hypothesized that this number is lower because of the "snapshot" method of studying the gut microbiota: All previous studies only measured the microbial population at a certain point in time

In their study, the researchers used 585 fecal samples from wild Amboseli baboons, usually with more than 20 samples per baboon

The research team found that 97% of the microbiota characteristics, including overall diversity and abundance of individual microbes, have significant heritability

"This does show that in human work, the reason why researchers did not find genetics is partly because humans do not have stool samples from refrigerators for ten and a half years, and they don't have all the initial host (personal) information needed to sort out these details," Archie said

The team did find evidence that environmental factors influence the heritability of gut microbiota traits

Because the study also showed that the environment has a significant impact on the gut microbiota of baboons, their findings are consistent with previous studies that the environment has a greater effect on changes in the gut microbiota than additive genetic effects

However, knowing that genes in the gut microbiota are heritable opens the door for future identification of microorganisms affected by genetics

The Amboseli baboon project started in 1971 and is one of the longest-running wild primate research projects in the world

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation

Journal Reference :

1. Laura Grieneisen, Mauna Dasari, Trevor J.