Mining the Core Gut Microbiome from a Sample Indian Population

Abstract

Human gut microbiome studies are increasing at a rapid pace to understand contributions of the prokaryotic life to the innate workings of their eukaryotic host. Majority of studies focus on the pattern of gut microbial diversity in various diseases, however, understanding the core microbiota of healthy individuals presents a unique opportunity to study the microbial fingerprint in population specific studies. Present study was undertaken to determine the core microbiome of a healthy population and its imputed metabolic role. A total of 8990, clone library sequences (> 900 bp) of 16S rRNA gene from fecal samples of 43 individuals were used. The core gut microbiota was computed using QIIME pipeline. Our results show the distinctive predominance of genus Prevotella and the core composition of genera Prevotella, Bacteroides, Roseburia and Megasphaera in the Indian gut. PICRUSt analysis for functional imputation of the microbiome indicates a higher potential of the microbiota for carbohydrate metabolism. The presence of core microbiota may indicate key functions played by these microbes for the human host.