Cited by 248Gut microbiota and healthOral microbiology and periodontitis researchMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology

Gut Microbiome of Coexisting BaAka Pygmies and Bantu Reflects Gradients of Traditional Subsistence Patterns

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Gomez, Andres, Petrzelkova, Klara J., Burns, Michael B., Yeoman, Carl J., Amato, Katherine R., Vlckova, Klara, Modry, David, Todd, Angelique +13 more·2016·Cell Reports

Abstract

To understand how the gut microbiome is impacted by human adaptation to varying environments, we explored gut bacterial communities in the BaAka rainforest hunter-gatherers and their agriculturalist Bantu neighbors in the Central African Republic. Although the microbiome of both groups is compositionally similar, hunter-gatherers harbor increased abundance of Prevotellaceae, Treponema, and Clostridiaceae, while the Bantu gut microbiome is dominated by Firmicutes. Comparisons with US Americans reveal microbiome differences between Africans and westerners but show western-like features in the Bantu, including an increased abundance of predictive carbohydrate and xenobiotic metabolic pathways. In contrast, the hunter-gatherer gut shows increased abundance of predicted virulence, amino acid, and vitamin metabolism functions, as well as dominance of lipid and amino-acid-derived metabolites, as determined through metabolomics. Our results demonstrate gradients of traditional subsistence patterns in two neighboring African groups and highlight the adaptability of the microbiome in response to host ecology.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.02.013

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  • The gut bacteria of urban-industrialized populations often have high abundances of Bacteroides, while the gut bacteria from traditional hunter-gatherer or agropastoral societies have higher abundances of Prevotella.

    “The gut bacteria of urban-industrialized populations often have high abundances of Bacteroides, while the gut bacteria from traditional hunter-gatherer or agropastoral societies have higher abundances of Prevotella [22–28].”
  • The unweighted UniFrac distances between the BaAka and the neighboring Bantu is nearly 74% of the mean distance between the US and the African cohort, while for weighted UniFrac this ratio is nearly 70%.

    “The unweighted UniFrac distances between the BaAka and the neighboring Bantu is nearly 74% of the mean distance between the US and the African cohort, while for weighted UniFrac this ratio is nearly 70%.”
  • Bacteroides has been used to distinguish between developing (low Bacteroides abundance) and industrialized (high Bacteroides abundance) populations.

    “Bacteroides has been used to distinguish between developing (low Bacteroides abundance) and industrialized (high Bacteroides abundance) populations [22–28, 30]”
  • Bacterial community diversity between rural African populations in this study is comparable to that observed by Gomez et al. between the BaAka hunter-gatherers and a neighboring group of Bantu-speaking agriculturalists.

    “The bacterial community diversity we observe between rural African populations is comparable to that observed by Gomez et al. [27] between two groups from the Central African Republic, the BaAka hunter-gatherers and a neighboring group of Bantu-speaking agriculturalists.”
  • Treponema within family Spirochetaceae is a common constituent of hunter-gatherer gut microbiomes and a catabolizer of fibrous plant materials (cellulose and xylans) that form a large component of Hadza diets.

    “in particular, the genus Treponema within family Spirochetaceae, which is a common constituent of hunter-gatherer gut microbiomes [24–27, 30] and a catabolizer of fibrous plant materials (cellulose and xylans) that form a large component of Hadza diets [24]”

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Authors
Gomez, A., Petrzelkova, K. J., Burns, M. B., Yeoman, C. J., Amato, K. R., Vlckova, K., Modry, D., Todd, A., Jost Robinson, C. A., Remis, M. J., Torralba, M. G., Morton, E., Umaña, J. D., Carbonero, F., Gaskins, H. R., Nelson, K. E., Wilson, B. A., Stumpf, R. M., White, B. A., Leigh, S. R., & Blekhman, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • Montana State University (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • World Wildlife Fund (US)
  • Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
  • J. Craig Venter Institute (US)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
Corresponding author
  • Gomez, Andres
  • Leigh, Steven R.
  • Blekhman, Ran
Venue
Cell Reports
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-03
Volume
14
Issue
9
Pages
2142-2153
ISSN
2211-1247 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2279707184
Cited by
248
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 8
FWCI
14.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ASEP (publishedVersion)
  • CU Scholar (University of Colorado Boulder) (submittedVersion)
  • Montana State University ScholarWorks (Montana State University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • ASEP (submittedVersion, public-domain)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
  • European Regional Development Fund
  • World Wildlife Fund
  • Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia
  • Grantová Agentura České Republiky (206/09/0927)
  • European Social Fund (OPVK CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0300)
  • Central European Institute of Technology (CZ.1.05/1.100/02.0068)
  • National Science Foundation (0935347)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Oral microbiology and periodontitis research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Keywords
gut microbiota, Bantu peoples, hunter-gatherers, farmers, subsistence strategies, human adaptation, Prevotellaceae, Treponema, Clostridiaceae, Firmicutes, gut metabolomics, carbohydrate metabolism, xenobiotic metabolism, virulence factors, vitamin metabolism, Central African Republic
MeSH terms
Firmicutes, Bacillota, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Black or African American, Central African Republic, Female, Genes, Bacterial, Humans, Male, RNA, Bacterial, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, United States, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Bacteroidetes, Black People, Gene Regulatory Networks, Molecular Typing, Diet, Paleolithic, Diet, Western

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