Venue: Seminar Hall
Speaker: Dr. Yogesh S. Shouche
Topic: Human Microbiome: Indian Perspective
Abstract:
The human gut microbiota is "the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that literally share our gastrointestinal tract". Dominated by eubacteria, the metabolic activities performed by the gut microbiome is often as complex as an organ and hence it is now being appreciated and studied in much detail. Increasing evidence suggests that the human gut microbiota changes according to diet, age, lifestyle, climate and geography, genetic make-up, early microbial exposure and health status. Studying the Indian population is relevant given the known dietary and geographical variety, unique family structure and ethnic diversity.
In traditional Indian familial system, where three generations can be studied for changes in the gut microflora with age, it has been shown that the gut microbiota changes according to age within individuals of the same family and a shift in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio with age is observed, which is different than previously reported in European population. With the incoming wave of lifestyle changes observed now in India and given the availability of sugar-rich diet, the population is at high risk of developing obesity and diabetes. Preliminary work indicates prominence of genus Bacteroides amongst obese Indian individuals with an elevated fecal SFCA (Short-Chain Fatty Acids) levels. In the case of Diabetes, a consolidated disbiosis of not just eubacterial but also of archaeal and eukaryotic components is seen in the gut microbiota of newly-diagnosed and known-diagnosed diabetic individuals as compared to healthy individuals.
The selection of gut microbiota is also influenced by the genetic make-up of individuals and their birth mode as seen in a study which compared gut bacterial community of Indian and Finnish children with the host genotype, which revealed that FUT-2 gene polymorphism and birth mode does indeed affect the eventual gut microbial profiles of children. This selection is driven by specific bacterial groups such as Prevotella, Megasphaera for Indian subjects and Blautia and Bifidobacterium for Finnish subjects. Comparative analysis of gut microbiota of healthy Indian subjects with other populations highlights that the gut microbiomes of Indians is different from that of other Western populations and even cluster separately from Asian populations. The distinctive feature of the healthy Indian gut microbiome is the predominance of genus Prevotella and Megasphaera.
Taken together, the relevance of studying the Indian microbiome is justified given its unique microbiome features and further studies are necessitated to understand the determinants shaping the Indian microbiome. This will be helpful to develop microbial consortia for prebiotic and probiotic application and devise population specific microbiome therapies.
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