Recommended Citation
Mallott EK, Sitarik AR, Leve LD, Cioffi C, Camargo CA, Jr., Hasegawa K, and Bordenstein SR. Human microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity emerges as early as 3 months of age. PLoS Biol 2023; 21(8):e3002230.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2023
Publication Title
PLoS biology
Abstract
Human microbiome variation is linked to the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of many diseases and associates with race and ethnicity in the United States. However, the age at which microbiome variability emerges between these groups remains a central gap in knowledge. Here, we identify that gut microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity arises after 3 months of age and persists through childhood. One-third of the bacterial taxa that vary across caregiver-identified racial categories in children are taxa reported to also vary between adults. Machine learning modeling of childhood microbiomes from 8 cohort studies (2,756 samples from 729 children) distinguishes racial and ethnic categories with 87% accuracy. Importantly, predictive genera are also among the top 30 most important taxa when childhood microbiomes are used to predict adult self-identified race and ethnicity. Our results highlight a critical developmental window at or shortly after 3 months of age when social and environmental factors drive race and ethnicity-associated microbiome variation and may contribute to adult health and health disparities.
Medical Subject Headings
Adult; Child; Humans; Ethnicity; Microbiota; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Knowledge; Machine Learning
PubMed ID
37590208
Volume
21
Issue
8
First Page
3002230
Last Page
3002230
