As so many scientific roads are leading to, or at the very least through, the microbiome, scientists are anxious to understand the multitude of factors that shape these essential microbial populations. Study after study has found that our microbiome affects nearly every aspect of our health—and its microbial composition, which varies from individual to individual, may hold the key to everything from weight gain to moods. While some microbiome research has suggested that this variation begins with differences in our genes, a new large-scale study conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science challenges this notion, providing evidence that the connection between microbiome and health may be even more important than we thought.
Findings from the new study—published recently in
Nature, in an article entitled “
Environment Dominates over Host Genetics in Shaping Human Gut Microbiota”—show that host genetics play a very minor role in determining microbiome composition, accounting for only about 2% of the variation between populations.
The new study was based on a unique database of around 1000 Israelis who had participated in a longitudinal study of personalized nutrition. Israel has a highly diverse population, which presents an ideal experimental setting for investigating the effects of genetic differences. In addition to genetic data and microbiome composition, the information collected for each study participant included dietary habits, lifestyle, medications, and additional measurements.
