Hominid gut microbiome across lifestyles in Tanzania
Cross-sectional study of 587 gut metagenome samples from five hominid populations in Tanzania (two urban human groups, Hadza hunter-gatherers, two chimpanzee populations), examining microbiome composition and diet-related functional variation. machine-written summary
481 samples · 587 runs · TZ · Age unknown · 2022 · 14.90 Gbp / sample
Checked this project's papers and archive records yourself? Mark it human-verified.
what each source gave
| ✓ Sequence archive | 962 sample values (collection date, country) |
| ✓ Abstract / description | 481 sample values (health condition detail) |
| ○ Full text | read; no usable statement or table · PMC11959905, PMC13182958 |
| ○ Supplementary tables | files read; no table could be matched to the samples |
| – 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 524 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 | 481 | 100% | 481 | |||
| health_condition | 0 | 0% | ||||
| subject_id | 0 | 0% | ||||
| collection_date | 481 | 100% | 481 | |||
| health_condition_detail | 481 | 100% | 481 |
- Genomic and functional co-diversification imprint African Hominidae microbiomes to signal dietary and lifestyle adaptations. 2025 PMID 40164980 PMC11959905 own_data
- A Hadza-enriched <i>Prevotella/Segatella</i> xyloglucanase shows sequence conservation and functional specialization. 2026 PMID 42158361 PMC13182958 own_data
Archive description
Host microbiome interactions are complex and often select for traits that benefit one or both mutualistic partners. Co-adaptive responses emerge from these interactions to increase the fitness of the host, microbiome or both. Here we investigated the evolutionary signature impact on hominidae-microbiome composition and functions that explain host-microbiome co-evolutionary adaptation to different lifestyles (e.g., dietary breakdown, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance). 586 microbiomes from five hominid populations that span different evolutionary steps and lifestyles in Tanzania were characterised using deep-sequencing metagenomics: two urban human populations, hunter-gatherer (Hadza), and two chimpanzee populations. Our results showed host evolutionary trait signatures onto gut microbiome bacteria, viruses, parasites, CAZyme genes, antimicrobial resistance genes and metabolic pathways. Different populations harboured differently abundant bacterial taxa, even at strain phylogenies, and mirrored the host adaptive fitness in the environment to serve the host physiological demands, e.g., pectin degrading bacteria were more abundant in chimpanzee guts compared to others, and fructose fermenting bacteria were more abundant in Hadza guts. Hominid microbiomes also showed varying dietary-derived eukaryotic signals that correspond to the varying bacterial loads to target those dietary intakes (increased fruits and plants in Hadza and chimpanzee guts, respectively). Antimicrobial resistant genes were also more abundant in urban populations where modern medicine (e.g., antibiotics) are more practiced compared to chimpanzees and Hadza populations. Our results show that hominid microbiomes form a tight mutualistic relationship with their hosts that uniformly enhances both partner fitness in nature, and serves the function demands that surfaced during the co-evolutionary course of the association.
How this project entered the registry
Classified as human gut / stool shotgun DNA metagenome of age unknown by sonnet_x2 with confidence 0.62. Assay shotgun_dna.
- host study.description · “586 microbiomes from five hominid populations”
- host study.description · “two urban human populations, hunter-gatherer (Hadza)”
- body site run.scientific_name · “feces metagenome”
- body site study.description · “pectin degrading bacteria were more abundant in chimpanzee guts”
Evidence examples (one per field × route)
| sample | field | value | route | conf. | source | quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAMEA112254110 | collection_date | 2015 | R1 | 0.90 | biosample.attribute:collection_date | 2015 |
| SAMEA112254110 | country | TZ | R1 | 0.90 | sample.attr.geographic_location_country_and_or_sea | Tanzania |
| SAMEA112254110 | health_condition_detail | mixed_case_control: Mixed cohort: urban humans, indigenous Hadza, and wild chimpanzees; no unified health status stated | R4 | 0.50 | study.description | two urban human populations, hunter-gatherer (Hadza), and two chimpanzee populations |
Sequencing
587 runs over 481 samples · mean 15.82 Gbp per run (median 14.90 Gbp, total 9,287.77 Gbp; 587 runs with a base count) · layout PAIRED 587 · platform ILLUMINA 587 · models Illumina NovaSeq 6000 (587) · 89% of runs with a Sandpiper profile · first public 2022-12-20 – 2023-01-09
Authors (21)
Otani S first · Louise Jespersen M · Brinch C · Duus Møller F · Pilgaard B · Egholm Bruun Jensen E · Leekitcharoenphon P · Aaby Svendsen C · Aarestrup AH · Sonda T · Sylvina TJ · Leach J · Piel A · Stewart F · Sapountzis P · Kazyoba PE · Kumburu H · Aarestrup FM last · Kjærgaard Munk K · Fjermedal S · Meyer AS
Help complete this project
3 of the 4 core fields are below 50% coverage: age_category, health_condition, subject_id. Share metadata
Downloads
PRJEB58441.csv.gz (12.1 KB) · parquet (86.5 KB) — all 481 samples, every field with route and confidence · PRJEB58441_determinations.csv.gz (7.9 KB) — 1,443 evidence rows