Gut and Liver https://doi.org/10.5009/gnl19354 pISSN 1976-2283 eISSN 2005-1212 Original Article Characteristics of the Gut Microbiome of Healthy Young Male Soldiers in South Korea: The Effects of Smoking Hyuk Yoon1, Dong Ho Lee1, Je Hee Lee2, Ji Eun Kwon3, Cheol Min Shin1, Seung-Jo Yang2, Seung-Hwan Park4, Ju Huck Lee4, Se Won Kang4, Jung-Sook Lee4, and Byung-Yong Kim2 1Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, 2ChunLab Inc., Seoul, 3Armed Forces Capital Hospital, Seongnam, and 4Korean Collection for Type Cultures, Biological Resource Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Jeongeup, Korea Article Info Background/Aims: South Korean soldiers are exposed to similar environmental factors. In this Received October 14, 2019 study, we sought to evaluate the gut microbiome of healthy young male soldiers (HYMS) and to Revised January 6, 2020 identify the primary factors influencing the microbiome composition. January 17, 2020 Accepted Methods: We prospectively collected stool from 100 HYMS and performed next-generation se- Published online May 13, 2020 quencing of the 16S rRNA genes of fecal bacteria. Clinical data, including data relating to the diet, smoking, drinking, and exercise, were collected. Corresponding Author Results: The relative abundances of the bacterial phyla Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroide- Dong Ho Lee tes, and Proteobacteria were 72.3%, 14.5%, 8.9%, and 4.0%, respectively. Fifteen species, most ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6376-410X of which belonged to Firmicutes (87%), were detected in all examined subjects. Using cluster E-mail
[email protected] analysis, we found that the subjects could be divided into the two enterotypes based on the gut Byung-Yong Kim microbiome bacterial composition.