Dynamics of the normal gut microbiota: A longitudinal one-year population study in Sweden

Temporal dynamics of the gut microbiota potentially limit the identification of microbial features associated with health status. Here, we used whole-genome metagenomic and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize the intra-and inter-individual variations of gut microbiota composition and functional potential of a disease-free Swedish population (n = 75) over one year. We found that 23% of the total compositional variance was explained by intra-individual variation. The degree of intra-individual compositional variability was negatively associated with the abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (a butyrate producer) and two Bifidobacterium species. By contrast, the abundance of facultative anaerobes and aerotolerant bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus varied extensively, independent of compositional stability. The contribution of intra-individual variance to the total variance was greater for functional pathways than for microbial species. Thus, reliable quantification of microbial features requires repeated samples to address the issue of intra-individual variations of the gut microbiota.

Automated summary

The composition and function of the gut microbiota vary significantly between individuals, and this variation can potentially be explained by intra-individual dynamics. The abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bifidobacterium species is negatively associated with the stability of the gut microbiota composition. In contrast, facultative anaerobes and aerotolerant bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus, show extensive variation independent of compositional stability. The contribution of intra-individual variance to the total variance is greater for functional pathways than for microbial species. Therefore, reliable quantification of microbial features requires repeated sampling to address intra-individual variations of the gut microbiota.