Gut microbiome strain-sharing within isolated village social networks

Francesco Beghini, Jackson Pullman, Marcus Alexander, Shivkumar Vishnempet Shridhar, Drew Prinster, Adarsh Singh, Rigoberto Matute Juárez, Edoardo M. Airoldi, Ilana L. Brito and Nicholas A. Christakis ()
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Francesco Beghini: Yale University
Jackson Pullman: Yale University
Marcus Alexander: Yale University
Shivkumar Vishnempet Shridhar: Yale University
Drew Prinster: Johns Hopkins University
Adarsh Singh: Cornell University
Rigoberto Matute Juárez: Soluciones para Estudios de la Salud
Edoardo M. Airoldi: Fox School of Business, Temple University
Ilana L. Brito: Cornell University
Nicholas A. Christakis: Yale University

Nature, 2025, vol. 637, issue 8044, 167-175

Abstract: Abstract When humans assemble into face-to-face social networks, they create an extended social environment that permits exposure to the microbiome of others, thereby shaping the composition and diversity of the microbiome at individual and population levels1–6. Here we use comprehensive social network mapping and detailed microbiome sequencing data in 1,787 adults within 18 isolated villages in Honduras7 to investigate the relationship between network structure and gut microbiome composition. Using both species-level and strain-level data, we show that microbial sharing occurs between many relationship types, notably including non-familial and non-household connections. Furthermore, strain-sharing extends to second-degree social connections, suggesting the relevance of a person’s broader network. We also observe that socially central people are more microbially similar to the overall village than socially peripheral people. Among 301 people whose microbiome was re-measured 2 years later, we observe greater convergence in strain-sharing in connected versus otherwise similar unconnected co-villagers. Clusters of species and strains occur within clusters of people in village social networks, meaning that social networks provide the social niches within which microbiome biology and phenotypic impact are manifested.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08222-1

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