TY - JOUR T1 - The Core Human Fecal Metabolome JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.05.08.442269 SP - 2021.05.08.442269 AU - Jacob J. Haffner AU - Mitchelle Katemauswa AU - Thérèse S. Kagone AU - Ekram Hossain AU - David Jacobson AU - Karina Flores AU - Adwaita R. Parab AU - Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito AU - Raul Y. Tito AU - Luis Marin Reyes AU - Luzmila Troncoso-Corzo AU - Emilio Guija-Poma AU - Nicolas Meda AU - Hélène Carabin AU - Tanvi P. Honap AU - Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan AU - Cecil M. Lewis, Jr AU - Laura-Isobel McCall Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/09/2021.05.08.442269.abstract N2 - Among the biomolecules at the center of human health and molecular biology is a system of molecules that defines the human phenotype known as the metabolome. Through an untargeted metabolomic analysis of fecal samples from human individuals from Africa and the Americas—the birthplace and the last continental expansion of our species, respectively—we present the characterization of the core human fecal metabolome. The majority of detected metabolite features were ubiquitous across populations, despite any geographic, dietary, or behavioral differences. Such shared metabolite features included hyocholic acid and cholesterol. However, any characterization of the core human fecal metabolome is insufficient without exploring the influence of industrialization. Here, we show chemical differences along an industrialization gradient, where the degree of industrialization correlates with metabolomic changes. We identified differential metabolite features like leucyl-leucine dipeptides and urobilin as major metabolic correlates of these behavioral shifts. Our results indicate that industrialization significantly influences the human fecal metabolome, but diverse human lifestyles and behavior still maintain a core human fecal metabolome. This study represents the first characterization of the core human fecal metabolome through untargeted analyses of populations along an industrialization gradient.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -