Functional signature analysis of extreme Prakriti endophenotypes in gut microbiome of western Indian rural population

Ayurveda is practiced in India from ancient times and stratifies the individuals based on their Prakriti constitution. Advancements in modern science have led to the association of Prakriti with molecular, biochemical, genomic and other entities. We have recently explored the gut microbiome composition and microbial signatures in healthy extreme Prakriti endo-phenotypes. However, their functional potentials are still lacking. The present study includes 63 females (29 Vata, 11 Pitta, and 23 Kapha) and 50 males (13 Vata, 18 Pitta, and 19 Kapha) samples. The predictive functional profiling and organism level functional traits of the human gut microbiome have been carried out in Prakriti groups using imputed metagenomic approach. A higher functional level redundancy is found than the taxonomy across the Prakriti groups, however the dominant taxa contributing to the functional profiles are found to be different. A high number of functional signatures specific to the Prakriti groups were identified in female datasets. Some of the functional signatures were found to be gender specific. For example, a higher abundance of microbes contributing potential pathogenic and stress tolerance related functions was found in Kapha in female and Pitta in male. The functional signatures correlated well with phenotypes and disease predisposition of Prakriti groups.