What Shapes Our Health Modifying Microbiome, Genetics or Lifestyle?

Left: Genetic differences are easily seen across individuals of different ancestries. Each point represents a person coloured by his ancestry, and the graph is a reduction of the complex genetics vector of each person into two dimensions. Right: No differences are seen in the microbiome of individuals of different ancestries. Same as left, but the plot is of the microbiome reduced to two dimensions. Coloring is by ancestries and no separation can be seen

Credit: Weizmann Institute of Science

If microbiome populations are not shaped by our genetics, how do they nonetheless interact with our genes to modify our health? The scientists investigated the connections between microbiome and the measurements in the database of cholesterol, weight, blood glucose levels, and other clinical parameters. The study results were very surprising: For most of these clinical measures, the association with bacterial genomes was at least as strong, and in some cases stronger, than the association with the host’s human genome.

According to the scientists, these findings provide solid evidence that understanding the factors that shape our microbiome may be key to understanding and treating many common health problems.

Segal: “We cannot change our genes, but we now know that we can affect – and even reshape – the composition of the different kinds of bacteria we host in our bodies. So the findings of our research are quite hopeful; they suggest that our microbiome could be a powerful means for improving our health.”

The field of microbiome research is relatively young; the database of 1,000 individuals collected at the Weizmann institute is one of the most extensive in the world. Segal and Elinav believe that over time, with the further addition of data to their study and those of others, these recent findings may be further validated, and the connection between our microbiome, our genetics and our health will become clearer.

Prof. Eran Elinav’s research is supported by the Adelis Foundation; Andrew and Cynthia Adelson; the estate of Bernard Bishin; Valerie and Aaron Edelheit; the European Research Council; Jack N. Halpern; the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; the Bernard M. and Audrey Jaffe Foundation; the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation; the Park Avenue Charitable Fund; the Lawrence and Sandra Post Family Foundation; the Rising Tide Foundation; Vera and John Schwartz; Leesa Steinberg; and Yael and Rami Ungar. Prof. Elinav is the Incumbent of the Sir Marc and Lady Tania Feldmann Professorial Chair.

Prof. Eran Segal’s research is supported by the Adelis Foundation; Judith Benattar; the Carter Chapman Shreve Family Foundation; the Crown Human Genome Center, which he heads; the European Research Council; Jack N. Halpern; the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation; Donald and Susan Schwarz; and Leesa Steinberg.
 

Authors: Daphna Rothschild, Omer Weissbrod, Elad Barkan, Alexander Kurilshikov, Tal Korem, David Zeevi, Paul I. Costea, Anastasia Godneva, Iris N. Kalka, Noam Bar, Smadar Shilo, Dar Lador, Arnau Vich Vila, Niv Zmora, Meirav Pevsner-Fischer, David Israeli, Noa Kosower, Gal Malka, Bat Chen Wolf, Tali Avnit-Sagi, Maya Lotan-Pompan, Adina Weinberger, Zamir Halpern, Shai Carmi, Jingyuan Fu, Cisca Wijmenga, Alexandra Zhernakova, Eran Elinav, Eran Segal. Nature, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/nature25973