Bi-directional Plasticity of the Human Gut Microbial Communities for the Long Stay. faecal samples

The dynamics of human gut microbiome attributes an indispensable component of its homeostasis, and the mechanism of the dynamics responses to the dietary demands comprehensive investigations. In this work, we collected and analyzed 287 faecal samples to understand the microbial community dynamics accompanied with a long stay. Specifically, we inquired the faecal samples of natives in Beijing, natives in Trinidad and Tobago, and a volunteer team in Beijing who conducted a long stay in Trinidad and Tobago. The results evinced that the diets mediated the highly plastic pattern of the gut microbial communities, i.e., the community structures shifting towards the patterns of the natives accompanying their stays in Trinidad and Tobago and reverting to their host original patterns with the returning to Beijing within one month. Metagenomic analysis also revealed that the abundances of glycoside hydrolases were suppressed and the abundances of glycosyltransferases and carbohydrate esterases were amplified during the long stay. By integrating their dietary information, we have discovered the influence of diets on taxonomical and functional structures. We hypothesized that the carbohydrate metabolism drives shifts of abundances of species and their related functions, and these shifts are plastic.