Abstract
Exposure to an unsanitary environment increases the diversity and alters the composition of gut microbiota. To identify the key element in the unsanitary environment responsible for this phenomenon, we investigated the effect and the extent by which the soil in our environment influenced the composition of gut microbiota. Results show that adding unsterile or sterile soil to bedding, either before birth or after weaning, influences significantly the composition of mice gut microbiota. Specifically, unsterile soil increases the richness and biodiversity of gut microbiota. Interestingly, based on UniFrac distance analysis of 16S rRNA sequences, the impact of soil on gut microbiota is comparable to that exerted by diet. These findings provide a potential new strategy for intervening on the human gut microbial community and preventing disease.
Highlights
The relationship between human gut microbiota and certain diseases has become increasingly apparent[1,2]
Mice fed a high-fat diet and raised on bedding with unsterile soil added before birth or after weaning showed significantly more Actinobacteria (P < 0.001) (Figure 1B and Supplementary Table 3b)
Soil-associated changes in gut microbial diversity We further discovered that unsterile soil could increase microbial diversity, for mice on a normal diet, whether it was added before birth or after weaning (Figure 2, Supplementary Figure 3, and Supplementary Table 5, Supplementary Table 6)
Summary
The relationship between human gut microbiota and certain diseases has become increasingly apparent[1,2]. The main contributing factors are delivery mode[3,4,5], age[6,7], antibiotic treatment[4,6], diet, and the living environment. They affect gut microbiota to different degrees. Among these factors, diet is the most widely studied one, as it modulates the composition and changes the function of the microbial community in humans[8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The human gut microbiota responds rapidly to dietary changes[8,20], even though long-term dietary habits remain the dominant force in determining the composition of an individual’s gut microbiota[10,15,21,22]
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