PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Qi Yan Ang
AU  - Diana L. Alba
AU  - Vaibhav Upadhyay
AU  - Jordan E. Bisanz
AU  - Jingwei Cai
AU  - Ho Lim Lee
AU  - Eliseo Barajas
AU  - Grace Wei
AU  - Andrew D. Patterson
AU  - Suneil K. Koliwad
AU  - Peter J. Turnbaugh
TI  - Differences in the gut microbiomes of distinct ethnicities within the same geographic area are linked to host metabolic health
AID  - 10.1101/2020.10.23.352807
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.10.23.352807
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/23/2020.10.23.352807.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/23/2020.10.23.352807.full
AB  - Background The human gut microbiota exhibits marked variation around the world, which has been attributed to dietary intake and other environmental factors. However, the degree to which ethnicity-associated differences in gut microbial community structure and function are maintained following immigration or in the context of metabolic disease is poorly understood.Results We conducted a multi-omic study of 46 lean and obese East Asian (EA) and White (W) participants living in the San Francisco Bay Area. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed significant differences between ethnic groups in bacterial richness and community structure. W individuals were enriched for the mucin-degrading Akkermansia muciniphila. EA participants had increased levels of multiple Bacteroidetes species, fermentative pathways detected by metagenomics, and the short-chain fatty acid end products acetate, propionate, and isobutyrate. Differences in the gut microbiota between the EA and W groups could not be explained by reported dietary intake, were more pronounced for lean individuals, and were associated with current geographical location. Microbiome transplantations into germ-free mice confirmed that the differences in the gut microbiota of the EA and W individuals we analyzed are indeed independent of diet and that they differentially impact host body weight and adiposity in genetically identical mouse recipients.Conclusions The reported findings emphasize the utility of studying diverse ethnic groups within a defined geographical location and provide a starting point for dissecting the mechanisms contributing to the complex interactions between the gut microbiome and ethnicity-associated lifestyle, demographic, metabolic, and genetic factors.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.16S-seq16S rRNA gene sequencingASA24Automated Self Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment ToolASVAmplicon Sequence VariantBCAAbranched chain amino acidBMIbody mass indexDHQIIIDiet History Questionnaire IIIEAEast AsianHFHShigh-fat, high-sugarLFPPlow-fat, plant-polysaccharide richSCFAshort-chain fatty acidWWhiteZCTAZIP Code Tabulation Area