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Comparative Study
. 2011 Oct;77(20):7433-7.
doi: 10.1128/AEM.05490-11. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Comparison of the gut microbiotas of healthy adult twins living in South Korea and the United States

Sunghee Lee  1 , Joohon Sung, JungEun Lee, GwangPyo Ko
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of the gut microbiotas of healthy adult twins living in South Korea and the United States

Sunghee Lee et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

We compared the composition of the fecal microbiotas of Korean and U.S. adult twins. Our data indicated that the gut microbiota shows some signature of biogeography, potentially mediated by differences in diet and/or other environmental factors; however, these regional differences may be masked by other phenotypic variations, such as obesity.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(A) Estimation of the abundance of unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) using Chao1 based on nonphylogenetic metrics. Phylogenetic diversity was estimated using the average values for the Chao1 plot of the gut microbiota in the American (US) and Korean (KS) cohorts (A1) and in obese and lean Korean cohorts (A2). Data are based on 1,000 sequences per sample from the study populations. The values are means, and error bars indicate the 95% confidence intervals. (B) Average unweighted UniFrac distance between the samples from Korean (KS), total American (US), African American (AA), European American (EA), and unrelated individuals in the total population (B1), obese subpopulation (B2), and lean subpopulation (B3). Asterisks indicate significant differences (Student's t test). The values are means, and error bars indicate the standard errors of the means. ns, not significant; *, P < 0.05; **, P < 10−9; ***, P < 10−53. (C) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the total gut bacterial communities in the Korean and American cohorts. Points indicate values for Korean (red spots) and American, including African American (blue spots) and European American (green spots), individuals. The PC1 (principal component 1; x axis) and PC2 (principal component 2; y axis) values were estimated to be 11.03 and 6.33%, respectively, in the total population (C1). The obese subpopulation values were estimated to be 10.10 and 5.06%, respectively (C2). The lean subpopulation values were estimated to be 14.17 and 7.87%, respectively (C3).
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(A) Estimation of the abundance of unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) using Chao1 based on nonphylogenetic metrics. Phylogenetic diversity was estimated using the average values for the Chao1 plot of the gut microbiota in the American (US) and Korean (KS) cohorts (A1) and in obese and lean Korean cohorts (A2). Data are based on 1,000 sequences per sample from the study populations. The values are means, and error bars indicate the 95% confidence intervals. (B) Average unweighted UniFrac distance between the samples from Korean (KS), total American (US), African American (AA), European American (EA), and unrelated individuals in the total population (B1), obese subpopulation (B2), and lean subpopulation (B3). Asterisks indicate significant differences (Student's t test). The values are means, and error bars indicate the standard errors of the means. ns, not significant; *, P < 0.05; **, P < 10−9; ***, P < 10−53. (C) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the total gut bacterial communities in the Korean and American cohorts. Points indicate values for Korean (red spots) and American, including African American (blue spots) and European American (green spots), individuals. The PC1 (principal component 1; x axis) and PC2 (principal component 2; y axis) values were estimated to be 11.03 and 6.33%, respectively, in the total population (C1). The obese subpopulation values were estimated to be 10.10 and 5.06%, respectively (C2). The lean subpopulation values were estimated to be 14.17 and 7.87%, respectively (C3).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Bacterial taxa that discriminate Korean versus U.S. fecal microbiota at the class (A), order (B), and (C) family levels. The graphs show only Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes taxa that exhibited significant differences.
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References

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