The Bacterial Gut Microbiota of Schoolchildren from High and Low Socioeconomic Status: A Study in an Urban Area of Makassar, Indonesia.

Aldian I Amaruddin,Maria Yazdanbakhsh,Ed J Kuijper,Eric A.T Brienen,Firdaus Hamid,Munawir Muhammad,Anoecim R Geelen,Romy D Zwittink,Jan Pieter R Koopman,Erliyani Sartono,Lisette Van Lieshout,Sitti Wahyuni

doi:10.3390/microorganisms8060961

Aldian I Amaruddin, Maria Yazdanbakhsh + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8060961

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Abstract

To understand the relationship between the gut microbiota and the health profile of Indonesians, it is important to elucidate the characteristics of the bacterial communities that prevail in this population. To this end, we profiled the faecal bacterial community of 140 Indonesian schoolchildren in urban Makassar. The core microbiota of Indonesian schoolchildren consisted of Bifidobacterium, Collinsella, and multiple members of the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminicoccaceae families, but the relative abundance of these taxa varied greatly among children. Socioeconomic status (SES) was the main driver for differences in microbiota composition. Multiple bacterial genera were differentially abundant between high and low SES children, including Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Prevotella, and Escherichia-Shigella. In addition, the microbiota of high SES children was less diverse and strongly associated with body mass index (BMI). In low SES children, helminth infection was prevalent and positively associated with Olsenella, Enterohabdus, Lactobacillus, and Mogibacterium abundance, while negatively associated with relative abundance of Prevotella. Protozoa infection was also prevalent, and positively associated with Rikenellaceae, while it was negatively associated with the relative abundance of Romboutsia and Prevotella. In conclusion, Indonesian schoolchildren living in urban Makassar share a core microbiota, but their microbiota varies in diversity and relative abundance of specific bacterial taxa depending on socioeconomic status, nutritional status, and intestinal parasites infection.

Highlights

In the past decades, several studies have established the role of the gut microbiota in maintaining host physiological states, including immune responses, metabolism, mental, and physical development [1]
We studied the bacterial gut microbiota, and its association with environmental factors, of Indonesian schoolchildren living in urban Makassar
The core microbiota consisted of Bifidobacterium, Collinsella, and multiple members of the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminicoccaceae families (Table 2), together constituting an average relative abundance of 56.3 ± 19.8%

Summary

Introduction

Several studies have established the role of the gut microbiota in maintaining host physiological states, including immune responses, metabolism, mental, and physical development [1]. The imbalance of gut microbiota composition may aggravate inflammation, metabolic diseases, or other health problems [2,3,4,5]. Gut microbiota composition is predominantly driven by environmental factors, such as diet, physical activity level, hygiene, disease, and medication use, instead of genetics [6,7]. Indonesia is a developing country with enormous economic growth, but with great socioeconomic disparities in its population. This inequality is reflected by the wide gap in health status between people from high and low socioeconomic status (SES). We investigated gut microbiota composition in a helminth endemic area in rural Indonesia. Since there are no large disparities in lifestyle and SES in that area, these factors were not studied therein

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