Industrialization drives convergent microbial and physiological shifts in the human metaorganism.

Authors:

Mathilde Poyet, Malte Rühlemann, Ana P Schaan, Yue Ma, Lucas Moitinho-Silva, Eike M Wacker, Hannah Jebens, Lucas Patel, Le Thanh Tu Nguyen, Alexis Zimmer, Damian Plichta, Daniel McDonald, Christine Stevens, Adwoa Agyei, Mary Y Afihene, Shadrack O Asibey, Yaw A Awuku, Aida S Badiane, Lee S Ching, Chris Corzett, Awa Deme, Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo, Amoako Duah, Alain Fezeu, Alain Froment, Sean Gibbons, Catherine Girard, Jeff Hooker, Fatimah Ibrahim, Deborah Iqaluk, Vanessa Juimo, Pinja Kettunen, Sophie Lafosse, Ernest Lango-Yaya, Jenni Lehtimäki, Yvonne A L Lim, Audax Mabulla, Varocha Mahachai, Rihlat S Mohamed, Katya Moniz, Ivan E Mwikarago, Yvonne A Nartey, Daouda Ndiaye, Mary Noel, Charles Onyekwere, Tan M Pin, Amelie Plymoth, Lewis Roberts, Lasse Ruokolainen, John Rusine, Laure Segurel, B Jesse Shapiro, Shani Sigwazi, Ainara Sistiaga, Kenneth Valles, Tommi Vatanen, Ratha-Korn Vilaichone, Philip Rosenstiel, John Baines, Andre Franke, David Ellinghaus, Rob Knight, Mark Daly, Ramnik J Xavier, Eric J Alm, Mathieu Groussin

Year of publication:

2025

Volume:

Issue:

ISSN:

2692-8205

Journal (long):

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Journal (short):

bioRxiv

Impact factor:

Abstract:

Understanding how host lifestyle and industrialization shape the human gut microbiome and intestinal physiology requires multimodal analyses across diverse global host contexts. Here, we generate multivariate data from the Global Microbiome Conservancy cohort, including gut microbiome, IgA-sequencing, host genotyping, diet, lifestyle and fecal biomarker profiles, to investigate host-microbiome interactions across gradients of industrialization and geography. We show that industrialization is associated with homogenized microbial compositions, reduced microbial diversity, and lower community stability, independent of host confounders. We further show that industrialization is linked to elevated markers of gut stress, increased IgA secretion, and altered patterns of IgA-bacteria interactions. Finally, we show that microbiome-based disease predictors trained on industrialized populations lose accuracy in less industrialized cohorts, highlighting limited cross-population transferability. Together, our results suggest profound restructuring of host-microbiome interactions due to industrialized lifestyles, and emphasize the need for inclusive, globally representative data to improve translational microbiome applications across diverse human populations.

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