Gut Microbiota Evolution: 60 Different Strains of Microorganism Evolve Alongside Humans for the Past Thousands of Years

New research recently showed that when homo sapiens made their way out of Africa, they carried "tiny little friends" with them known as "gut bacteria."

According to a Cosmos report, these gut bacteria have been evolving or "co-diversifying" alongside humans "for the last couple of thousand years."

As well as enabling a person to understand more about himself, it is hoped that the new research will provide more information on how to treat microbiome-based diseases or create new treatments.

The study looked at the differences and similarities between humans' nearest bacterial friends in more than 1,200 humans living worldwide.

Human Gut Microbiome

In their research published in Science, the team discovered 59 microbial species, and one archaeon, that have evolved in parallel with humans.

Essentially, an archaeon is a domain of single-celled organisms first believed to be bacteria, although they are not identified to be akin to eukaryotes, multi-cellular organisms like humans.

The human gut microbiome contains hundreds of species of microbes, and many of the most notable species are found in people all over the world.

The team also said that gut bacterial communities are not haphazard collections of bacteria, although reflections of the unique ancestries of human populations.

Nonetheless, within bacterial species, some variants can exhibit notable genetic diversity between certain human populations.

Whether or not such diversity took place through a shared evolutionary history between humans and their bacteria has not yet been fully understood.

60 Bacterial Strains Found

Taichi Suzuki, a microbiologist from Max Planck Institute for Biology, together with his team, analyzed more than 1,000 people who live in Germany, Vietnam, and Gabon and discovered 60 bacterial strains that, between and within countries, have evolutionary backgrounds that specify co-diversification.

The researchers also discovered that the species showing the strongest co-diversification seem to have independently evolved traits as well, like oxygen and temperature intolerance, as well as reduced genomes, which means they indeed are stuck with humans, also known as "host dependency."

In their study, the list of human health conditions associated with the microbiome ranges from malnutrition to allergies, heart conditions, or cardiovascular disease.

Awareness of differences in gut microbian variants between populations has already resulted in the idea that probiotics for treating malnutrition should be sourced locally.

The microbiome is a treatment target for personalized medicine, and the findings highlight the essentiality of a population-specific approach to microbiome-based treatments.

Human Microbiome

According to a Medical News Today report, every human harbors roughly "10 trillion and 100 trillion microbial cells in a symbiotic relationship."

Some studies approximate that there are roughly 10 times more bacterial cells in the body compared to human cells, while other scientists claim that the ratio is closer to 1:1.

Such a symbiotic relationship benefits bacteria and their hosts as long as the body is healthy. Approximations differ, although there could be more than a thousand different species of microorganisms making up the human microbiota.

The human biome's composition can significantly vary between people. Different body parts will host other microbial communities.

For instance, the oral cavity, skin, genital organs, respiratory tract, and gastrointestinal system, all have a lot of microbial cells. Still, levels and types, and functions will differ between locations.

Related information about gut microbes is shown on The Washington Post's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Bacteria in Science Times.