Understanding the association between the human gut, oral and skin microbiome and the Ayurvedic concept of prakriti

Abstract

Ayurveda is one of the ancient systems of medicine which is widely practised as a personalized scientific approach towards the general wellness. Ayurvedic prakriti is broadly defined as the phenotypes which are determined on the basis of physical, psychological and physiological traits irrespective of their social, ethnic, dietary and geographical stature. Prakriti is the constitution of a person, which comprises vata, pitta, and kapha and is a key determinant of how one individual is different from the other. Human microbiome is considered the 'latest discovered' human organ and microbiome research reiterates the fundamental principles of Ayurveda for creating a healthy gut environment by maintaining the individual-specific microbiome. Hence, it is important to understand the association of human microbiome with the Ayurvedic prakriti of an individual. Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of human microbiome from the gut, oral and skin samples of healthy individuals (n=18) by 16S rRNA gene-based metagenomics using standard QIIME pipeline. In the three different prakriti samples differential abundance of Bacteroides, Desulfovibrio, Parabacteroides, Slackia, and Succinivibrio was observed in the gut microbiome. Analysis also revealed prakriti-specific presence of Mogibacterium, Propionibacterium, Pyramidobacter, Rhodococcus in the kapha prakriti individuals Planomicrobium, Hyphomicrobium, Novosphingobium in the pitta prakriti individuals and Carnobacterium, Robiginitalea, Cetobacterium, Psychrobacter in the vata prakriti individuals. Similarly, the oral and skin microbiome also revealed presence of prakriti-specific differential abundance of diverse bacterial genera. Prakriti-specific presence of bacterial taxa was recorded and only 42% microbiome in the oral samples and 52% microbiome in the skin samples were shared. Bacteria known for preventing gut inflammation by digesting the resistant starch were abundant in the pitta prakriti individuals, who are more prone to develop gut-inflammation-related disorders. In summary, human gut, oral and skin microbiome showed presence or high abundance of few bacterial taxa across three prakriti types, suggesting their specific physiological importance.