PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gabriela K. Fragiadakis
AU  - Samuel A. Smits
AU  - Erica D. Sonnenburg
AU  - William Van Treuren
AU  - Gregor Reid
AU  - Rob Knight
AU  - Alphaxard Manjurano
AU  - John Changalucha
AU  - Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello
AU  - Jeff Leach
AU  - Justin L. Sonnenburg
TI  - Links between environment, diet, and the hunter-gatherer microbiome
AID  - 10.1101/319673
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 319673
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/15/319673.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/15/319673.full
AB  - The study of traditional populations provides a view of human-associated microbes unperturbed by industrialization, as well as a window into the microbiota that co-evolved with humans. Here we discuss our recent work characterizing the microbiota from the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. We found seasonal shifts in bacterial taxa, diversity, and carbohydrate utilization by the microbiota. When compared to the microbiota composition from other populations around the world, the Hadza microbiota shares bacterial families with other traditional societies that are rare or absent from microbiotas of industrialized nations. We present additional observations from the Hadza microbiota and their lifestyle and environment, including microbes detected on hands, water, and animal sources, how the microbiota varies with sex and age, and the shortterm effects of introducing agricultural products into the diet. In the context of our previously published findings and of these additional observations, we discuss a path forward for future work.