Malaysian children Metagenome

Gut microbiota plays an important role in energy metabolism and nutrient absorption. The functions are particularly important in young children where rapid mental and physical development took place. Despite the important, little is known about the gut microbiota composition and the factors that contribute to the microbial variation in the gut of South East Asia children. In this study, using faecal sample as a proxy for gut microbiome, we compared the bacterial richness and composition of feaces obtained from pre-adolescence (aged 6-12) of three distinct ethnic groups in Malaysia, namely the Malays, Indian and Orang Asli. The 454 pyosequencing results showed that the Orang Asli, or the Malaysia indigenous tribe harboured gut microbial composition distinct to the Chinese and Malays. Among the detected gut bacterial lineages, significant higher (p<0.05) Aeromonadales, unclassified order affiliated to Bacteroidetes and Deltaproteobacteria, and unclassified genus under Ruminococcaceae was observed in the former. In addition, Spirochaetes was found exclusively only in the Orang Asli children. When the gut microbial profiles was modelled with the socio-demographic data, ethnicity and routine hygiene practice (eating with hand) was selected as the best explanatory factors, accounting for 12% of the total variance in the model.