The gut microbiome of a Northern Plains tribe is in transition between global Indigenous and industrialized populations.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional comparative observational study
PubMed 42384485 · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116334
What was done
Shotgun metagenomics was used to profile the gut microbiomes of individuals from a Northern Plains tribe reservation and compare them against 12 global populations categorized by traditional, agrarian, or industrialized lifestyles, analyzing 532 samples in total.
What was found
Across 532 samples, the Northern Plains tribe microbiota exhibited greater bacterial and archaeal diversity than industrialized populations, but reduced diversity compared to traditional and agrarian populations. Compared to the general United States population, tribal microbiomes had higher counts of virulence factor and microbial defense genes and fewer CAZyme-encoding genes. The abstract reports no exact numerical values or effect sizes.
Why it matters
This research provides rare metagenomic data from a North American Indian population experiencing post-colonial dietary transitions, demonstrating an intermediate microbiome state between traditional and industrialized groups.
Limits
The study is observational and cross-sectional. The abstract does not specify the sample size breakdown between the tribal group and the 12 comparison populations, nor does it provide quantitative effect sizes, confidence intervals, or clinical health correlates.
Cited by
- supports Traditional societies have greater gut microbiome diversity compared to modern industrialized societies.