Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-15-2020
Publication Title
PLOS One
Volume
15
Issue
1
First page number:
1
Last page number:
14
Abstract
CrAssphage (cross-assembly phage) is a bacteriophage that was first discovered in human gut metagenomic data. CrAssphage belongs to a diverse family of crAss-like bacteriophages thought to infect gut commensal bacteria belonging to Bacteroides species. However, not much is known about the biogeography of crAssphage and whether certain strains are associated with specific human populations. In this study, we screened publicly available human gut metagenomic data from 3,341 samples for the presence of crAssphage sensu stricto (NC_024711.1). We found that crAssphage prevalence is low in traditional, hunter-gatherer populations, such as the Hadza from Tanzania and Matses from Peru, as compared to industrialized, urban populations. Statistical comparisons showed no association of crAssphage prevalence with variables such as age, sex, body mass index, and health status of individuals. Phylogenetic analyses show that crAssphage strains reconstructed from the same individual over multiple time-points, cluster together. CrAssphage strains from individuals from the same study population do not always cluster together. Some evidence of clustering is seen at the level of broadly defined geographic regions, however, the relative positions of these clusters within the crAssphage phylogeny are not well-supported. We hypothesize that this lack of strong biogeographic structuring is suggestive of an expansion event within crAssphage. Using a Bayesian dating approach, we estimate that this expansion has occurred fairly recently. Overall, we determine that crAssphage presence is associated with an industrialized lifestyle and the absence of strong biogeographic structuring within global crAssphage strains is likely due to a recent population expansion within this bacteriophage.
Keywords
Phylogenetic analysis; Metagenomics; Bacteriophages; Biogeography; Bacteroides; Infants; Phylogenetics; Phylogeography
Disciplines
Bacteriology | Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology | Gastroenterology | Medical Nutrition | Molecular, Genetic, and Biochemical Nutrition
File Format
File Size
1.054 KB
Language
English
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Repository Citation
Honap, T. P.,
Sankaranarayanan, K.,
Schnorr, S. L.,
Ozga, A. T.,
Warinner, C.,
Lewis, C. M.
(2020).
Biogeographic Study of Human Gut-Associated crAssphage Suggests Impacts from Industrialization and Recent Expansion.
PLOS One, 15(1),
1-14.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226930
Included in
Bacteriology Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Gastroenterology Commons, Medical Nutrition Commons, Molecular, Genetic, and Biochemical Nutrition Commons