Abstract
Background and aims: During ocean-going voyages, crew members are subject to complex pressures from their living and working environment, which leads to a sub-optimal health status. Although abnormal defecation was observed during voyages, the associations between the gut microbiome and the symptoms are still unclear. Methods: Associations between the gut microbiome and the health status of 77 crew members during a 135 day-long ocean-going voyage were evaluated using shotgun metagenomics of stool samples and health questionnaires (with 24 physical and psychological indicators) taken before and after the voyage.Results: The co-appearance of symptoms e.g. abnormal defecation frequency, insomnia, shallow sleep, nausea and over-eating best described the sub-optimal health status of the majority of crew members, and we named this as ‘Ocean-Going Syndrome (OGS)’. The OGS, instead of any single symptom, has a significant effect on the gut microbiome, and it was proved to be a key factor for individual perturbation in the gut microbiome during the voyage. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed a different microbial dynamic between the OGS and non-OGS crews, and the variation of 19 bacterial species and 31 gene families were identified as microbial signature for the OGS. Moreover, using a Random Forest model, the OGS can be predicted with a high accuracy (AUC=0.91) based on 27 biomarkers from pre-voyage samples. Conclusions: Understanding associations between the gut microbiome and health status under extreme environments could help us discover potential predictors or even therapeutic targets for dysbacteriosis related diseases.
Interactions between Human Gut Microbiome Dynamics and Sub-Optimal Health Symptoms during Seafaring Expeditions
