Human populations living at high altitude evolved a number of biological adjustments to cope with a challenging environment characterised especially by reduced oxygen availability and limited nutritional resources. This condition may also affect their gut microbiota composition. Here, we explored the impact of exposure to such selective pressures on human gut microbiota by considering different ethnic groups living at variable degrees of altitude: the high-altitude Sherpa and low-altitude Tamang populations from Nepal, the high-altitude Aymara population from Bolivia, as well as a low-altitude cohort of European ancestry, used as control. We thus observed microbial profiles common to the Sherpa and Aymara, but absent in the low-altitude cohorts, which may contribute to the achievement of adaptation to high-altitude lifestyle and nutritional conditions. The collected evidences suggest that microbial signatures associated to these rural populations may enhance metabolic functions able to supply essential compounds useful for the host to cope with high altitude-related physiological changes and energy demand. Therefore, these results add another valuable piece of the puzzle to the understanding of the beneficial effects of symbiosis between microbes and their human host even from an evolutionary perspective.

中文翻译：

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喜马拉雅和安第斯山脉人群的肠道菌群组成及其与饮食，生活方式和对高海拔环境的适应性之间的关系。

居住在高海拔地区的人们进行了许多生物学上的调整，以应对具有挑战性的环境，尤其是以氧气供应减少和营养资源有限为特征。这种情况也可能影响其肠道菌群组成。在这里，我们通过考虑生活在不同海拔高度的不同族裔，探讨了暴露于这种选择性压力对人体肠道菌群的影响：尼泊尔的高海拔夏尔巴人和低海拔的Tamang人群，玻利维亚的高海拔Aymara人群以及欧洲血统的低海拔人群，都被用作对照。因此，我们观察到了夏尔巴人和艾马拉人所共有的微生物特征，但在低海拔人群中却没有，这可能有助于实现对高海拔生活方式和营养条件的适应。收集的证据表明，与这些农村人口有关的微生物特征可能增强代谢功能，从而能够提供对宿主有用的必需化合物，以应对与海拔高度有关的生理变化和能量需求。因此，即使从进化的角度来看，这些结果也为理解微生物与人类宿主之间的共生的有益作用增加了另一个有价值的难题。