The role of the microbiota in human genetic adaptation

Abstract

Getting to the guts of local evolution The microbiota of mammals is a product of coevolution. However, humans exhibit a range of adaptive peculiarities that can be quite geographically specific. The human microbiota also displays a variety of community compositions and a range of overlapping and redundant metabolic characteristics that can alter host physiology. For example, lactase persistence is a genetic characteristic of European populations, but in populations lacking the lactase gene, milk sugar digestion is endowed by the microbiota instead. Suzuki and Ley review the evidence for the role that the microbiota plays in local adaptation to new and changing human circumstances. Science , this issue p. eaaz6827