Gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group

Gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group:

We show that the Hadza have higher levels of microbial richness and biodiversity than Italian urban controls. 

Further comparisons with two rural farming African groups illustrate other features unique to Hadza that can be linked to a foraging lifestyle. These include absence of Bifidobacterium and differences in microbial composition between the sexes that probably reflect sexual division of labour. 

Furthermore, enrichment in Prevotella, Treponema and unclassified Bacteroidetes, as well as a peculiar arrangement of Clostridiales taxa, may enhance the Hadza’s ability to digest and extract valuable nutrition from fibrous plant foods.

Gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers

• Stephanie L. Schnorr,
• Marco Candela,
• Simone Rampelli,
• Manuela Centanni,
• Clarissa Consolandi,
• Giulia Basaglia,
• Silvia Turroni,
• Elena Biagi,
• Clelia Peano,
• Marco Severgnini,
• Jessica Fiori,
• Roberto Gotti,
• Gianluca De Bellis,
• Donata Luiselli,
• Patrizia Brigidi,
• Audax Mabulla,
• Frank Marlowe,
• Amanda G. Henry
• & Alyssa N. Crittenden

• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Corresponding author

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 3654 doi:10.1038/ ncomms 4654 Published, 15 April 2014

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Abstract

• Abstract• 
• Introduction• 
• Results• 
• Discussion• 
• Methods• 
• Additional information• 
• References•
• Acknowledgements• 
• Author information• 
• Supplementary information

Human gut microbiota directly influences health and provides an extra means of adaptive potential to different lifestyles. To explore variation in gut microbiota and to understand how these bacteria may have co-evolved with humans, here we investigate the phylogenetic diversity and metabolite production of the gut microbiota from a community of human hunter-gatherers, the Hadza of Tanzania.