Abstract

No studies have investigated the influence of ethnicity in a multi-ethnic middle-income country with a long-standing history of co-habitation. Stool samples from 214 Malaysian community members (46 Malay, 65 Chinese, 49 Indian, and 54 Jakun) were collected. The gut microbiota of the participants was investigated using 16S amplicon sequencing. Ethnicity exhibited the largest effect size across participants (PERMANOVA Pseudo-F = 4.24, R2 = 0.06, p = 0.001). Notably, the influence of ethnicity on the gut microbiota was retained even after controlling for all demographic, dietary factors and other covariates which were significantly associated with the gut microbiome (PERMANOVA Pseudo-F = 1.67, R2 = 0.02, p = 0.002). Our result suggested that lifestyle, dietary, and uncharacterized differences collectively drive the gut microbiota variation across ethnicity, making ethnicity a reliable proxy for both identified and unidentified lifestyle and dietary variation across ethnic groups from the same community.

Details

Title
Ethnicity influences the gut microbiota of individuals sharing a geographical location: a cross-sectional study from a middle-income country
Author
Dwiyanto Jacky 1 ; Hussain, M H 1 ; Reidpath, D 2 ; Ong, K S 1 ; Qasim, A 3 ; Lee S W H 4 ; Lee, S M 1 ; Foo, S C 1 ; Chong, C W 4 ; Rahman Sadequr 5 

 Monash University Malaysia, School of Science, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3) 
 International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Health System and Population Studies Division, Dhaka, Bangladesh (GRID:grid.414142.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 0600 7174); South East Asia Community Observatory, Segamat, Malaysia (GRID:grid.414142.6) 
 Monash University Malaysia, School of Science, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3); Monash University Malaysia, Genomics Facility, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3) 
 Monash University Malaysia, School of Pharmacy, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3) 
 Monash University Malaysia, School of Science, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3); Monash University Malaysia, Tropical Medicine and Biology Platform, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia (GRID:grid.440425.3) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2483412481
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.