Distinguishing feature of gut microbiota in Tibetan highland coronary artery disease patients and its link with diet

Yulan Ma,Yumiao Wei,Xingli Liu,Zhongshan Gao,Ming Ren,Lin Li,Lulu Zhu,Zhijun Ma,Youlu Shen

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98075-9

Abstract

The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Tibetan Highlanders is lower than that in plain-living individuals, but the mechanism still unclear. Gut microbiota (GM) disorder is considered one of the potential factors involved in the pathogenesis of CAD, but the GM characteristics of Tibetan Highlanders suffering from CAD are unknown. We sequenced the V3-V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA of gut bacteria from fecal samples from Tibetan and Han CAD patients and healthy individuals inhabiting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as well as from Han CAD patients and healthy individuals living at sea level, and we analyzed the GM characteristics of these subjects by bioinformatics analysis. The results showed that Tibetan Highlanders suffering from CAD had higher GM α-diversity, with differently distributed cluster compared with healthy Tibetan Highlanders and Han CAD patients living at high and low altitudes. Genera Catenibacterium, Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Holdemanella, and Ruminococcus 2 were enriched in Tibetan Highlanders suffering from CAD compared with healthy Tibetan Highlanders and Han CAD patients living at high- and low-altitudes. Prevotella was enriched in Tibetan Highlanders suffering from CAD compared with Han CAD patients living at high- and low-altitudes. Moreover, Catenibacterium was positively correlated with Prevotella. Additionally, Catenibacterium, Holdemanella, and Prevotella were positively correlated with fermented dairy product, carbohydrate and fiber intake by the subjects, while Clostridium_sensu_stricto was negatively correlated with protein intake by the subjects. In conclusion, our study indicated that Tibetan Highlanders suffering from CAD showed distinct GM, which was linked to their unique dietary characteristics and might associated with CAD.

Highlights

Because of the unique genetic background, living environmental factors and diet of Tibetan Highlanders, the incidence and mortality of individuals in these populations suffering from CAD are different from those of other p opulations[4,5,6]
The incidence of CAD in Tibetan Highlanders is lower than that in Japanese individuals living at sea level, which suggests that unknown contributors play protective roles in the CAD of Tibetan Highlanders
Several studies have shown that Tibetan Highlanders showed different GM characteristic when compared with other individuals, which might be because stable and balanced gut ecosystems play an important role in human self-protection in harsher e nvironments[16,19,20]

Summary

Introduction

Read counts of them all showed significant differences among the 6 groups No significant differences were detected in terms of sex, smoking, BMI, DBP, fasting blood glucose, ethnic, living altitude, and fermented, fat, fiber, and protein intake, Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Holdemanella, Ruminococcus 2, and Prevotella read counts between the two groups (p > 0.05, Table 4 left column).

Results

Conclusion