Abstract
Despite well-established knowledge of the role of diet and the geographic effect on the gut microbiota of human populations, the temporal dynamics of the individual microbiota profile across changes associated with intercontinental short residence are still far from being understood. This pilot study sought to provide insights into the trajectory of the gut microbiota of an individual during a two-month stay in Italy and a subsequent two-month stay in Nigeria, by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and inferred metagenomics. The gut microbiota underwent massive but temporary changes, both taxonomically and based on predicted functionality. The faecal microbiota associated with the short stay in Italy progressively lost diversity and showed a dominance of Firmicutes, while after returning to Nigeria, the microbial community quickly regained the typical profile, in terms of biodiversity and bacterial signatures of traditional lifestyle, i.e., Prevotella and Treponema. Predicted pathways involved in glycolysis, fermentation and N-acetylneuraminate degradation were enriched during the subsequent two-month stay in Nigeria, whereas pathways associated with amino acid and peptidoglycan synthesis and maturation became over-represented during short stay in Italy. Our findings stress the plasticity of the individual gut microbiota even during a short-term travel, with loss/gain of taxonomic and functional features that mirror those of the gut microbiota of indigenous people dwelling therein.
Highlights
Every human on Earth harbours a uniquely diverse community of microorganisms in the gut
Bioinformatic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence data derived from Illumina sequencing yielded 1,299,262 highquality reads with an average of 72,181 ± 37,653 reads per sample
The alpha diversity of the gut microbial community during stay in Italy is significantly lower than that of samples collected after returning to Nigeria (Faith’s phylogenetic diversity, p = 0.000082; number of observed amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), p = 0.00089; Shannon index, p = 0.00058; Wilcoxon rank sum test) (Figures 1A–C)
Summary
Every human on Earth harbours a uniquely diverse community of microorganisms in the gut. It is recognized that there is a shifting trend in the taxonomic and functional profile of the gut microbiota as individuals adhering to traditional (i.e., foraging and agricultural) subsistence strategies adjust to industrialization and urbanization, adopting a Westernized lifestyle (Ayeni et al, 2018; Afolayan et al, 2019) Such a shifting trend has been shown to be associated with the migration of individuals from non-Westernized to Westernized countries (Vangay et al, 2018). These shifts include (but are not limited to): loss of gut microbiota diversity and loss of traditional lifestyle-associated microbial taxa (the so-called VANISH taxa) and functions (Sonnenburg and Sonnenburg, 2019a; Sonnenburg and Sonnenburg, 2019b). Evidence on the influence of migration on the gut microbiota exists, a complete understanding of the gut microbiota dynamics associated with an international travel and short stay in a Westernized nation and subsequently a non-Western one is currently lacking
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