The microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · Washington University in St. Louis · +10 more institutions
Abstract
Most studies of the human microbiome have focused on westernized people with life-style practices that decrease microbial survival and transmission, or on traditional societies that are currently in transition to westernization. We characterize the fecal, oral, and skin bacterial microbiome and resistome of members of an isolated Yanomami Amerindian village with no documented previous contact with Western people. These Yanomami harbor a microbiome with the highest diversity of bacteria and genetic functions ever reported in a human group. Despite their isolation, presumably for >11,000 years since their ancestors arrived in South America, and no known exposure to antibiotics, they harbor bacteria that carry…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 40.96
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 75
Authors
23Topics & keywords
- Microbiome
- Computational biology
- Biology
- Data science
- Computer science
- Bioinformatics