The Impact of a Dynamic Working Environment on Human Gut Microbiota

Abstract

Gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with a variety of diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), metabolic diseases, allergic diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer. The human gut microbiota can be influenced by a variety of factors, including geography, dietary habits, living environment, age and altered lifestyle etc. This study was conducted to explore the gut microbiota compositions in officials who are in a stable working environment and train drivers who are in a dynamic working environment. Microbiota communities in the feces of 80 officials and 88 train drivers were analyzed using Illumina MiSeq sequencing targeting the V3-V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and ITS1 region of fungi. There were significant differences between the two groups in diversity and richness of gut microbiota, while the microbial community compositions of the two groups were similar. The relationship between gut microbiota and clinical characteristics was investigated. We found that more bacteria and fungi were positively correlated with clinical characteristics. Functional prediction analysis of the gut microbiota between the two groups by PICRUSt2 revealed significant differences between the official group and the train driver group. Elucidating these differences of the microbiome between the two groups will provide a foundation understanding of the impact of a dynamic environment on gut microbiota.