Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #522

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'Lost' Microbes Found In Ancient Poop Could Relieve Chronic Illness
By Jack Guy, CNN
The microbiome resides in your gut, primarily the large intestine.
Previous research has made a connec- tion between preindustrial diets, greater diversity in the gut microbiome and lower rates of chronic illnesses, and the team set out to find recon- struct ancient human gut micro- biomes to investi- gate this link, researcher Aleksandar Kostic of the Joslin
Diabetes Center in Boston told CNN.
Research in the field has been held back by a lack of well-pre- served DNA sam- ples, but the team were able to per- form a detailed genetic analysis of eight human feces samples found in Mexico and the south- western United States, which date from 1,000- 2,000 years ago.
The feces were "exquisitely pre- served" thanks to the extreme aridi- ty of the desert
areas where they were found, Kostic told CNN.
Researchers reconstructed a total of 498 microbial genomes and concluded that 181 were from ancient humans. Of those, 61 had not previously been found in other samples.
The team then compared them with present-
day gut microbio- mes from industri- al and nonindus- trial populations and found that the ancient ones are closer to
today's non- industrial genomes.
A nonindustrial lifestyle is "char- acterized by con- sumption of unprocessed and self-produced foods, limited antibiotic use and a more active lifestyle," accord- ing to the study, which uses sam- ples from Fiji, Madagascar, Peru, Tanzania and a Mazahua indigenous com- munity in central Mexico.
Both the ancient and modern non- industrial genomes contain more genes used to metabolize starches. This may be because people in these societies ate more complex carbohydrates compared with present-day industrial popula- tions.
When microbes disappear or become extinct there are knock- on effects on our
health, Kostic told CNN.
"When they're gone we're miss- ing a key piece of what makes us us," he said. While research is at an early stage, Kostic hopes the microbes recon- structed by the team could even- tually be used to reduce the rate of chronic conditions such as obesity or autoimmune diseases.
"We could reseed people with these human-associat- ed microbes," he said.
Research in the field is advancing, said Kostic, with some fecal micro- bic transplants working toward approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The plan is to first see if the redis- covered microbes are in fact pres- ent in nonindustri- al populations alive today, and then introduce gut biomes from non-
industrial people into animals to see how they are affected.
Next is pinpoint- ing certain microbes that can be introduced to the human gut, and then using synthetic biology to reconstruct them, Kostic said. At the same time, more archeologi- cal research is needed to deter- mine if there is "a unified human microbiome that used to exist," he added.
In the meantime, Kostic said there's nothing we as individuals can do to bring back extinct microbes to our gut microbiomes.
However, we can boost the diversi- ty of our gut microbiomes by eating fiber and complex carbohy- drates, exercising and coming into contact with soil and animals, he added.
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