Changes in the taxonomic / phylogenetic composition of fecal communities as a function of age and population

Gut microbial communities represent one source of human genetic and metabolic diversity. To examine how gut microbiomes differ between human populations when viewed from the perspective of component microbial lineages, encoded metabolic functions, stage of postnatal development, and environmental exposures, we characterized bacterial species present in fecal samples obtained from 531 individuals representing healthy Amerindians from the Amazonas of Venezuela, residents of rural Malawian communities, and inhabitants of USA metropolitan areas, as well as the gene content of 110 of their microbiomes. This cohort encompassed infants, children, teenagers and adults, parents and offspring, and included monoand dizygotic twins. Shared features of the functional maturation of the gut microbiome were identified during the first three years of life in all three populations, including age-associated changes in the representation of genes involved in vitamin biosynthesis and metabolism. Pronounced differences in bacterial Users may view, print, copy, download and text and datamine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use: http://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policies/license.html#terms Address correspondence to: jgordon@wustl.edu. *Current address: Department of Computer Science, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Supplementary Information is linked to the online version of the paper at www.nature.com/nature. Author contributions T.Y., R.K. and J.I.G designed the experiments, M.M., I.T., M.G. D-B., M.C., M.M., G.H., A.C.H., A.P.A, R.K., R.N.B., C.A.L., C.L. and B.W. participated in patient recruitment, T.Y. generated the data, T.Y., F.E.R., J.C. M., J.R., J.K., J.G.C., D.K., R.K. and J.I.G. analyzed the results, T.Y., R.K. and J.I.G. wrote the paper. HHS Public Access Author manuscript Nature. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 December 14. Published in final edited form as: Nature. ; 486(7402): 222–227. doi:10.1038/nature11053. A uhor M anscript