Industrialization drives convergent microbial and physiological shifts in the human metaorganism

Area of Science:

• Human microbiome research
• Gut physiology
• Host-microbe interactions

Background:

• Host lifestyle and industrialization significantly influence the human gut microbiome and intestinal physiology.
• Multimodal analyses across diverse global populations are crucial for understanding these complex interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how industrialization and geography shape host-microbiome interactions.
• To assess the impact of industrialization on gut microbiome composition, stability, and host immune responses.
• To evaluate the cross-population transferability of microbiome-based disease predictors.

Main Methods:

• Multivariate data generation from the Global Microbiome Conservancy cohort.
• Analysis of gut microbiome, IgA-sequencing, host genotyping, diet, lifestyle, and fecal biomarkers.
• Comparative analysis across gradients of industrialization and geography.

Main Results:

• Industrialization is linked to a homogenized gut microbiome with reduced diversity and lower community stability, independent of host factors.
• Elevated markers of gut stress, increased IgA secretion, and altered IgA-bacteria interactions are associated with industrialization.
• Microbiome-based disease predictors trained on industrialized populations show reduced accuracy in less industrialized cohorts.

Conclusions:

• Industrialized lifestyles profoundly restructure host-microbiome interactions.
• Reduced microbial diversity and altered immune responses are key consequences of industrialization.
• Globally representative microbiome data are essential for improving the translational applications of microbiome research across diverse human populations.