Human-Gut-DNA Virome Variations across Geography, Ethnicity, and Urbanization

The human-gut-DNA virome is highly diverse and individual specific, but little is known of its variation at a population level. Here, we report the fecal DNA virome of 930 healthy adult subjects from two regions in China (Hong Kong and Yunnan) spanning six ethnicities (Han, Zang, Miao, Bai, Dai, and Hani), and including urban and rural residents for each ethnicity. Twenty host factors were found to significantly correlate with the human-gut virome variation, with geography carrying the strongest impact and ethnicity-distinct diets associating with certain viral species. Urbanization enhances interindividual dissimilarities between gut viromes, with the duration of urban residence associating with multiple bacteriophages, including Lactobacillus phage and Lactococcus phage. Overall, the gut virome presents more heterogeneity relative to the bacterial microbiome across the examined Chinese populations. This study highlights population-based variations and the importance of host and environmental factors in shaping the DNA virome in the human gut.