Abstract
The human gut microbiota is affected by genetic and environmental factors. It remains unclear how host genetic and environmental factors affect the composition and function of gut microbiota in populations living at high altitudes. We used a metagenome-wide analysis to investigate the gut microbiota composition in 15 native Tibetans and 12 Hans living on the Tibetan Plateau. The composition of gut microbiota differed significantly between these two groups (P < 0.05). The Planctomycetes was the most abundant phyla both in native Tibetans and in Hans. Furthermore, the most relatively abundant phyla for native Tibetans were Bacteroidetes (15.66%), Firmicutes (11.10%), Proteobacteria (1.32%), Actinobacteria (1.10%), and Tenericutes (0.35%), while the most relatively abundant phyla for Hans were Bacteroidetes (16.28%), Firmicutes (8.41%), Proteobacteria (2.93%), Actinobacteria (0.49%), and Cyanobacteria (0.21%). The abundance of the majority of genera was significantly higher in Tibetans than in Hans (P < 0.01). The number of microbial genes was 4.9 times higher in Tibetans than in Hans. The metabolic pathways and clusters of orthologous groups differed significantly between the two populations (P < 0.05). The abundance of carbohydrate-active enzyme modules and antibiotic resistance genes was significantly lower in Tibetans compared to Hans (P < 0.05). Our results suggest that different genetic factors (race) and environmental factors (diets and consumption of antibiotics) may play important roles in shaping the composition and function of gut microbiota in populations living at high altitudes.
Highlights
The gut microbiota plays important roles in maintaining normal physiological and metabolic functions of the human body [1, 2]
The Microbiota Abundance Was Higher in Native Tibetans than in Hans
After removing low quality reads and host sequences, averages of 22,407,937 and 30,918,028 high quality reads were obtained from the fecal DNA samples of native Tibetans and Hans, respectively (Table S1)
Summary
The gut microbiota plays important roles in maintaining normal physiological and metabolic functions of the human body [1, 2]. It contains at least 100 times as many genes as the human body itself [3]. The gut microbiota plays an important role in the immune system [4]. The composition of the gut microbiota may be unique to each individual, varying based on age, diet, and health status [7, 8]. A recent study showed that diet could rapidly change the composition of the gut microbiome [9]. Several studies have shown significant differences of the gut microbiome between people of nonindustrialized societies and those with westernized lifestyles [10, 11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
