Gut microbiome and pesticide exposure across Europe and Argentina
Cross-sectional study of 590 gut microbiome samples from participants in Argentina and nine European countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark), examining associations between measured pesticide residue exposure and gut microbiome composition and function. machine-written summary
591 samples · 591 runs · AR, HR, CZ · Age unknown · 2025 · 1.09 Gbp / sample
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what each source gave
| ✓ Sequence archive | 1,181 sample values (collection date, country) |
| – Abstract / description | no abstract or project description |
| – Full text | no open-access full text linked |
| – Supplementary tables | no supplementary tables available (or none open access) |
| – External resources | not covered by the external resources we ingest |
| – User contribution | nothing uploaded yet · share metadata |
| – Human verified | not yet checked by a person · I checked this project — verify it |
Genera, mean relative abundance over 583 profiled gut samples of this project (Sandpiper SingleM profiles, GTDB R232; low-depth and non-metagenome profiles left out).
| field | samples | coverage | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| age_category | 0 | 0% | ||||
| country | 591 | 100% | 591 | |||
| health_condition | 0 | 0% | ||||
| subject_id | 0 | 0% | ||||
| collection_date | 590 | 100% | 590 |
Archive description
The SPRINT consortium assessed exposure to more than 200 pesticides and metabolites through a biomonitoring campaign collecting biospecimens from ~700 participants across 10 European countries and Argentina. Participants also wore silicone wristbands to capture environmental exposure. Here, we evaluated how measured pesticide residues are associated with gut microbiome composition, diversity, and functionality. Total pesticide burden in blood, urine, faeces and wristbands was significantly associated with microbiome composition, highlighting the importance of studying combined exposures rather than individual compounds. Higher pesticide concentrations were linked to a reduced abundance of several beneficial bacterial genera. Eight individual pesticides were associated with microbiome composition, with effect sizes comparable to established determinants such as alcohol consumption or age. To explore functional implications, bacterial gene families were mapped to Gene Ontology (GO) terms . Most tested compounds were associated with one or more GO terms., including pathways related to vitamin production and SCFA production. Overall, our findings indicate that a broader range of pesticides than previously recognized can impact the gut microbiome. Given the widespread and repeated exposure to pesticide mixtures, these findings raise concerns regarding potential unintended health impacts and underscore the need to integrate microbiome endpoints into future pesticide risk assessments.
How this project entered the registry
Classified as human gut / stool shotgun DNA metagenome of age unknown by sonnet_x2 with confidence 0.75. Assay shotgun_dna.
- host study.title · “impacts human gut microbiome”
- body site run.scientific_name · “human gut metagenome”
Evidence examples (one per field × route)
| sample | field | value | route | conf. | source | quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAMEA120804538 | collection_date | 2021 | R1 | 0.90 | biosample.attribute:collection_date | 2021 |
| SAMEA120804538 | country | AR | R1 | 0.90 | sample.attr.geographic_location_country_and_or_sea | Argentina |
Sequencing
591 runs over 591 samples · mean 1.34 Gbp per run (median 1.09 Gbp, total 794.50 Gbp; 591 runs with a base count) · layout PAIRED 591 · platform ILLUMINA 591 · models NextSeq 550 (591) · 99% of runs with a Sandpiper profile · first public 2025-12-11
Authors (0)
No author record.
Help complete this project
3 of the 4 core fields are below 50% coverage: age_category, health_condition, subject_id. Share metadata
Downloads
PRJEB105208.csv.gz (13.3 KB) · parquet (90.1 KB) — all 591 samples, every field with route and confidence · PRJEB105208_determinations.csv.gz (5.4 KB) — 1,181 evidence rows