Key points from article :
Researchers have discovered over a thousand new gut microorganism species in the Hadza hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania, revealing a far more diverse gut microbiome than those found in people in California.
The research team, led by Matthew Carter at Stanford University, used ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing of faecal samples from 167 Hadza individuals to gain insights into how lifestyle affects gut microbiomes.
The team compared their findings to gut microbiomes of people in California and Nepal, noting a lack of microbiome sequencing focused on non-industrialised populations.
The Hadza gut microbiome exhibited twice the species number of the average Californian gut microbiome, and also contained species not previously discovered.
Researchers found approximately 1200 new single-celled microorganism species in the Hadza gut microbiomes, substantially adding to the previously known count of 4500 such species.
Lower gut microbiome diversity, as observed in industrialised countries, may be linked with health issues such as metabolic syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases.
Differences in diet, particularly fibre intake, or broader impacts of industrialisation may account for the gut microbiome diversity observed in the Hadza population.
Research by Stanford University School of Medicine published in Cell.
