Gut microbiome heritability is nearly universal but environmentally contingent.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Relatives have more similar gut microbiomes than nonrelatives, but the degree to which this similarity results from shared genotypes versus shared environments has been controversial. Here, we leveraged 16,234 gut microbiome profiles, collected over 14 years from 585 wild baboons, to reveal that host genetic effects on the gut microbiome are nearly universal. Controlling for diet, age, and socioecological variation, 97% of microbiome phenotypes were significantly heritable, including several reported as heritable in humans. Heritability was typically low (mean = 0.068) but was systematically greater in the dry season, with low diet diversity, and in older hosts. We show that longitudinal profiles and large sample sizes are crucial to quantifying microbiome heritability, and indicate scope for selection on microbiome characteristics as a host phenotype.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Grieneisen, L; Dasari, M; Gould, TJ; Björk, JR; Grenier, J-C; Yotova, V; Jansen, D; Gottel, N; Gordon, JB; Learn, NH; Gesquiere, LR; Wango, TL; Mututua, RS; Warutere, JK; Siodi, L; Gilbert, JA; Barreiro, LB; Alberts, SC; Tung, J; Archie, EA; Blekhman, R
Published Date
- July 2021
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 373 / 6551
Start / End Page
- 181 - 186
PubMed ID
- 34244407
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC8377764
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1095-9203
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0036-8075
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1126/science.aba5483
Language
- eng