Research Square · Jan 6, 2023
Enterotypes of the human gut mycobiome
By Lai S, Yan Y, Pu Y et al.
Abstract Background The fungal component of the human gut microbiome, also known as the mycobiome, plays a vital role in intestinal ecology and human health. However, the overall structure of the gut mycobiome as well as the inter-individual variations in fungal composition remains largely unknown. In this study, we collected a total of 3,363 fungal sequencing samples from 16 cohorts across three continents, including 572 newly profiled samples from China. Results We identify and characterize four mycobiome enterotypes using ITS profiling of 3,363 samples from 16 cohorts. These enterotypes exhibit stability across populations and geographical locations and significant correlation with bacterial enterotypes. Particularly, we notice that fungal enterotype have a strong age preference, where the enterotype dominated by Candida (i.e., fun_C_E enterotype) is enriched in the elderly populations and confers an increased risk of multiple diseases associated with compromised intestinal barrier. In addition, bidirectional mediation analysis reveals that the fungi-contributed aerobic respiration pathway associated with fun_C_E enterotype might mediate the association between the compromised intestinal barrier and aging. Conclusions We show that the human gut mycobiome is highly structured, and significantly correlates with prokaryotic community and multiple host factors such as diseases and host age.