Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

Microbiome ownership for Indigenous peoples

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 1777–1786 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Several studies have reported increased microbial diversity, or distinct microbial community compositions, in the microbiomes of Indigenous peoples around the world. However, there is a widespread failure to include Indigenous cultures and perspectives in microbiome research programmes, and ethical issues pertaining to microbiome research involving Indigenous participants have not received enough attention. We discuss the benefits and risks arising from microbiome research involving Indigenous peoples and analyse microbiome ownership as an ethical concept in this context. We argue that microbiome ownership represents an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to steward and protect their resident microbial communities at every stage of research.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Summary of results from Google Patents search for the key term ‘microbiome’.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Berg, G. et al. Microbiome definition re-visited: old concepts and new challenges. Microbiome 8, 103 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Guarner, F. & Malagelada, J.-R. Gut flora in health and disease. Lancet 361, 512–519 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Abt, M. C. & Pamer, E. G. Commensal bacteria mediated defenses against pathogens. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 29, 16–22 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Leger, A. J. S. et al. An ocular commensal protects against corneal infection by driving an interleukin-17 response from mucosal γδ T cells. Immunity 47, 148–158.e5 (2017).

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Gensollen, T., Iyer, S. S., Kasper, D. L. & Blumberg, R. S. How colonization by microbiota in early life shapes the immune system. Science 352, 539–544 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Hooper, L. V., Littman, D. R. & Macpherson, A. J. Interactions between the microbiota and the immune system. Science 336, 1268–1273 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Chuong, K. H., Mack, D. R., Stintzi, A. & O’Doherty, K. C. Human microbiome and learning healthcare systems: integrating research and precision medicine for inflammatory bowel disease. OMICS 22, 119–126 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Vallianou, N. G., Stratigou, T. & Tsagarakis, S. Microbiome and diabetes: where are we now? Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 146, 111–118 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Luca, F. D. & Shoenfeld, Y. The microbiome in autoimmune diseases. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 195, 74 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pascal, M. et al. Microbiome and allergic diseases. Front. Immunol. 9, 1584 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Eisenstein, M. Microbial ambassadors against food allergies. Nature 588, S11–S13 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Clapp, M. et al. Gut microbiota’s effect on mental health: the gut–brain axis. Clin. Pract. 7, 987 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Abusleme, L. et al. The subgingival microbiome in health and periodontitis and its relationship with community biomass and inflammation. ISME J. 7, 1016–1025 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Ai, D. et al. Integrated metagenomic data analysis demonstrates that a loss of diversity in oral microbiota is associated with periodontitis. BMC Genom. 18, 1041 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Burne, R. A. et al. Progress dissecting the oral microbiome in caries and health. Adv. Dent. Res. 24, 77–80 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Weyrich, L. S., Dixit, S., Farrer, A. G., Cooper, A. J. & Cooper, A. J. The skin microbiome: associations between altered microbial communities and disease. Australas. J. Dermatol. 56, 268–274 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Sorbara, M. T. & Pamer, E. G. Microbiome-based therapeutics. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00667-9 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Proctor, L. et al. A review of 10 years of human microbiome research activities at the US National Institutes of Health, fiscal years 2007–2016. Microbiome 7, 31 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Li, D. et al. Seven facts and five initiatives for gut microbiome research. Protein Cell 11, 391–400 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Moeller, A. H. et al. Cospeciation of gut microbiota with hominids. Science 353, 380–382 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Nishida, A. H. & Ochman, H. A great-ape view of the gut microbiome. Nat. Rev. Genet. 20, 195–206 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Moran, N. A., Ochman, H. & Hammer, T. J. Evolutionary and ecological consequences of gut microbial communities. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 50, 451–475 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Dominguez-Bello, M. G. et al. Delivery mode shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota across multiple body habitats in newborns. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 11971–11975 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Bokulich, N. A. et al. Antibiotics, birth mode, and diet shape microbiome maturation during early life. Sci. Transl Med. 8, 343ra82 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Blaser, M. J. Antibiotic use and its consequences for the normal microbiome. Science 352, 544–545 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Muegge, B. D. et al. Diet drives convergence in gut microbiome functions across mammalian phylogeny and within humans. Science 332, 970–974 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Zimmer, J. et al. A vegan or vegetarian diet substantially alters the human colonic faecal microbiota. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 66, 53–60 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. David, L. A. et al. Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature 505, 559–563 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Korpela, K. et al. Intestinal microbiome is related to lifetime antibiotic use in Finnish pre-school children. Nat. Commun. 7, 10410 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Korpela, K. et al. Selective maternal seeding and environment shape the human gut microbiome. Genome Res. 28, 561–568 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Blekhman, R. et al. Host genetic variation impacts microbiome composition across human body sites. Genome Biol. 16, 191 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Corby, P. M. et al. Heritability of oral microbial species in caries-active and caries-free twins. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 10, 821–828 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Demmitt, B. A. et al. Genetic influences on the human oral microbiome. BMC Genom. 18, 659 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Gomez, A. et al. Host genetic control of the oral microbiome in health and disease. Cell Host Microbe 22, 269–278.e3 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Shaw, L. et al. The human salivary microbiome is shaped by shared environment rather than genetics: evidence from a large family of closely related individuals. mBio 8, e01237-17 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Stahringer, S. S. et al. Nurture trumps nature in a longitudinal survey of salivary bacterial communities in twins from early adolescence to early adulthood. Genome Res. 22, 2146–2152 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (United Nations Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2009); https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP/en/SOWIP_web.pdf

  38. Who Are Indigenous Peoples? (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2009).

  39. Dominguez-Bello, M. G. et al. Ethics of exploring the microbiome of native peoples. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.97 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Sonnenburg, J. L. & Sonnenburg, E. D. Vulnerability of the industrialized microbiota. Science 366, eaaw9255 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Hawkins, A. K. & O’Doherty, K. C.“Who owns your poop?”: insights regarding the intersection of human microbiome research and the ELSI aspects of biobanking and related studies. BMC Med. Genom. 4, 72 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Rhodes, R., Gligorov, N. & Schwab, A. P. (eds) in The Human Microbiome: Ethical, Legal and Social Concerns 71–106 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013).

  43. Slashinski, M. J., McCurdy, S. A., Achenbaum, L. S., Whitney, S. N. & McGuire, A. L. “Snake-oil,” “quack medicine,” and “industrially cultured organisms:” biovalue and the commercialization of human microbiome research. BMC Med. Ethics 13, 28 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Bader, A. C. et al. A relational framework for microbiome research with Indigenous communities. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01471-2 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Filippo, C. D. et al. Impact of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in children from Europe and rural Africa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 14691–14696 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Yatsunenko, T. et al. Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geography. Nature 486, 222–227 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Schnorr, S. L. et al. Gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers. Nat. Commun. 5, 3654 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Obregon-Tito, A. J. et al. Subsistence strategies in traditional societies distinguish gut microbiomes. Nat. Commun. 6, 6505 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Martínez, I. et al. The gut microbiota of rural Papua New Guineans: composition, diversity patterns, and ecological processes. Cell Rep. 11, 527–538 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Clemente, J. C. et al. The microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians. Sci. Adv. 1, e1500183 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Girard, C., Tromas, N., Amyot, M. & Shapiro, B. J. Gut microbiome of the Canadian Arctic Inuit. mSphere 2, e00297-16 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Vangay, P. et al. US immigration westernizes the human gut microbiome. Cell 175, 962–972.e10 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  53. Jha, A. R. et al. Gut microbiome transition across a lifestyle gradient in Himalaya. PLoS Biol. 16, e2005396 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  54. Gomez, A. et al. Gut microbiome of coexisting BaAka pygmies and Bantu reflects gradients of traditional subsistence patterns. Cell Rep. 14, 2142–2153 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Smits, S. A. et al. Seasonal cycling in the gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. Science 357, 802–806 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  56. Sankaranarayanan, K. et al. Gut microbiome diversity among Cheyenne and Arapaho individuals from Western Oklahoma. Curr. Biol. 25, 3161–3169 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Nasidze, I. et al. High diversity of the saliva microbiome in Batwa pygmies. PLoS ONE 6, e23352 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Lassalle, F. et al. Oral microbiomes from hunter-gatherers and traditional farmers reveal shifts in commensal balance and pathogen load linked to diet. Mol. Ecol. 27, 182–195 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Abdul-Aziz, M. A. Ancient and Contemporary Analyses of the Impact of the Agricultural Transition on the Human Oral Microbiome. PhD thesis, Univ. Adelaide (2018).

  60. Ozga, A. T. et al. Oral microbiome diversity among Cheyenne and Arapaho individuals from Oklahoma. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 161, 321–327 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Handsley-Davis, M. et al. Heritage-specific oral microbiota in Indigenous Australian dental calculus. Evol. Med. Public Health 10, 352–362 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  62. Rogers, G. B., Ward, J., Brown, A. & Wesselingh, S. L. Inclusivity and equity in human microbiome research. Lancet 393, 728–729 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Blaser, M. J. & Falkow, S. What are the consequences of the disappearing human microbiota? Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 7, 887–894 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  64. Sonnenburg, E. D. & Sonnenburg, J. L. Starving our microbial self: the deleterious consequences of a diet deficient in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates. Cell Metab. 20, 779–786 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Blaser, M. J. The past and future biology of the human microbiome in an age of extinctions. Cell 172, 1173–1177 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Dominguez-Bello, M. G., Knight, R., Gilbert, J. A. & Blaser, M. J. Preserving microbial diversity. Science 362, 33–34 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. Sonnenburg, E. D. & Sonnenburg, J. L. The ancestral and industrialized gut microbiota and implications for human health. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 17, 383–390 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Velasquez-Manoff, M. Should we “rewild” our urban bodies with microbes from Indigenous peoples? Quartz (2 April 2016); https://qz.com/637744/should-we-rewild-our-urban-bodies-with-microbes-from-indigenous-peoples/

  69. Kolata, G. You’re missing microbes. But is ‘rewilding’ the way to get them back? The New York Times (19 July 2021); https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/health/human-microbiome-hadza-rewilding.htm

  70. Carmody, R. N., Sarkar, A. & Reese, A. T. Gut microbiota through an evolutionary lens. Science 372, 462–463 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Patents & biopiracy. ETC Group (31 August 2023); http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/patents-biopiracy

  72. Wynberg, R. & Chennells, R. in Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case (eds. Wynberg, R. et al.) 89–124 (Springer, 2009); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3123-5_6

  73. Janke, T. From smokebush to spinifex: Indigenous traditional knowledge and the commercialisation of plants. Int. J. Rural Law Policy https://doi.org/10.5130/ijrlp.1.2018.5713 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Wilson, A. C., Cantor, C. R., Cook-Deegan, R. M. & King, M.-C. Call for a worldwide survey of human genetic diversity: a vanishing opportunity for the Human Genome Project. Genomics 11, 490–491 (1991).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  75. Declaration of Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere regarding the Human Genome Diversity Project. Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (1995); http://www.ipcb.org/resolutions/htmls/dec_phx.html

  76. Dodson, M. & Williamson, R. Indigenous peoples and the morality of the Human Genome Diversity Project. J. Med. Ethics 25, 204–208 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  77. Reardon, J. & TallBear, K. “Your DNA is our history”: genomics, anthropology, and the construction of whiteness as property. Curr. Anthropol. 53, S233–S245 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Benezra, A. Race in the microbiome. Sci. Technol. Hum. Values 45, 877–902 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  79. Why Nature is updating its advice to authors on reporting race or ethnicity. Nature 616, 219 (2023).

  80. Lock, M. Interrogating the Human Diversity Genome Project. Soc. Sci. Med. 39, 603–606 (1994).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Liloqula, R. Value of life: saving genes versus saving Indigenous peoples. Cult. Surv. Q. 20, 42–43 (1996).

  82. Dukepoo, F.Genetic services in the new era: Native American perspectives. Community Genet. 1, 130–133 (1998).

  83. Concerns at ‘Vampire’ project. Green Left (2 February 1994); https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/concerns-vampire-project

  84. Harmon, A. Indian tribe wins fight to limit research of its DNA. The New York Times (21 April 2010); https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/us/22dna.html

  85. Tsosie, R. Cultural challenges to biotechnology: Native American genetic resources and the concept of cultural harm. J. Law Med. Ethics 35, 396–411 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  86. Garrison, N. A. et al. Genomic research through an Indigenous lens: understanding the expectations. Annu. Rev. Genom. Hum. Genet. 20, 495–517 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  87. Calling upon the National Institutes of Health to Consult with Tribal Nations and Establish Policies and Guidance for Tribal Oversight of Data on Tribal Citizens Enrolled in the All of Us Research Program Resolution ABQ-19-061 (National Congress of American Indians, 2019).

  88. Fox, K. The illusion of inclusion—the “All of Us” research program and Indigenous peoples’ DNA. N. Engl. J. Med. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1915987 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  89. Hudson, M. et al. Rights, interests and expectations: Indigenous perspectives on unrestricted access to genomic data. Nat. Rev. Genet. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-020-0228-x (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  90. James, R. et al. Exploring pathways to trust: a tribal perspective on data sharing. Genet. Med. 16, 820–826 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  91. Claw, K. G. et al. A framework for enhancing ethical genomic research with Indigenous communities. Nat. Commun. 9, 2957 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  92. Kukutai, T. & Taylor, J. Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda (Australian National Univ. Press, 2016).

  93. History of Indigenous data sovereignty. Global Indigenous Data Alliance (31 August 2023); https://www.gida-global.org/history-of-indigenous-data-sovereignty

  94. Mc Cartney, A. M. et al. Balancing openness with Indigenous data sovereignty: an opportunity to leave no one behind in the journey to sequence all of life. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2115860119 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  95. CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Global Indigenous Data Alliance, 2019); https://www.gida-global.org/care

  96. Tsosie, K. S., Yracheta, J. M., Kolopenuk, J. & Smith, R. W. A. Indigenous data sovereignties and data sharing in biological anthropology. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24184 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  97. Franzosa, E. A. et al. Identifying personal microbiomes using metagenomic codes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, E2930–E2938 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  98. Davies, M. in Are Persons Property? Legal Debates About Property and Personality 23–50 (Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2001).

  99. WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use (WIPO, 2008).

  100. Traditional knowledge: frequently asked questions. WIPO (31 August 2023); https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/resources/faqs.html

  101. Convention on Biological Diversity (United Nations, 1992).

  102. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (United Nations, 2010).

  103. Okediji, R. L. Traditional Knowledge and the Public Domain (2018).

  104. Janke, T. Our Culture: Our Future: Report on Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights (1998); https://4b0a135d-0afc-4211-ad92-391c5def66bb.filesusr.com/ugd/7bf9b4_2740d8cff7d24320b70f8a34015f9a53.pdf

  105. A new National Cultural Policy. Australian Government (31 August 2023); https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/new-national-cultural-policy

  106. Diamond v. Chakrabarty 447 US 303 (1980).

  107. Patents for biological inventions. IP Australia (31 August 2023); https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/understanding-patents/types-patents/what-can-be-patented/patents-biological-inventions

  108. Patents for micro-organisms. IP Australia (31 August 2023); https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/understanding-patents/types-patents/what-can-be-patented/patents-micro-organisms

  109. Davies, M. & Naffine, N. Are Persons Property? Legal Debates About Property and Personality (Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2001).

  110. Blasiak, R., Jouffray, J.-B., Wabnitz, C. C. C., Sundström, E. & Österblom, H. Corporate control and global governance of marine genetic resources. Sci. Adv. 4, eaar5237 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  111. Goldtooth, T. in Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (ed. Nelson, M. K.) (Bear and Company, 2008).

  112. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (United Nations, 2007).

  113. Pullman, D. & Arbour, L. in The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation (eds. Young, J. O. & Brunk, C. G.) 115–139 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).

  114. Haraway, D. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse (Routledge, 1997).

  115. Haraway, D. The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness (Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003).

  116. Ritchie, J. Indigenous onto-epistemologies and pedagogies of care and affect in Aotearoa. Glob. Stud. Child. 3, 395–406 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  117. TallBear, K. Why interspecies thinking needs Indigenous standpoints. Society for Cultural Anthropology (18 November 2011); https://culanth.org/fieldsights/why-interspecies-thinking-needs-indigenous-standpoints

  118. Clare, E. L. et al. Measuring biodiversity from DNA in the air. Curr. Biol. 32, 693–700.e5 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  119. Bardill, J. et al. Advancing the ethics of paleogenomics. Science 360, 384–385 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  120. Ethical Conduct in Research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Communities: Guidelines for Researchers and Stakeholders (National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), 2018).

  121. Keeping Research on Track II (National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), 2018).

  122. Hudson, M. et al. Te Mata Ira: Guidelines for Genomic Research with Māori (Te Mata Hautū Taketake – Māori & Indigenous Governance Centre, Univ. Waikato, 2016).

  123. Mackey, T. K. et al. Establishing a blockchain-enabled Indigenous data sovereignty framework for genomic data. Cell 185, 2626–2631 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  124. Mangola, S. M., Lund, J. R., Schnorr, S. L. & Crittenden, A. N. Ethical microbiome research with Indigenous communities. Nat. Microbiol. 7, 749–756 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  125. Warbrick, I., Heke, D. & Breed, M. Indigenous knowledge and the microbiome—bridging the disconnect between colonized places, peoples, and the unseen influences that shape our health and well-being. mSystems 8, e0087522 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  126. Handsley-Davis, M., Kowal, E., Russell, L. & Weyrich, L. S. Researchers using environmental DNA must engage ethically with Indigenous communities. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01351-6 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  127. Ambler, J. et al. Including digital sequence data in the Nagoya Protocol can promote data sharing. Trends Biotechnol. 39, 116–125 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  128. Strachan, D. P. Hay fever, hygiene, and household size. Br. Med. J. 299, 1259–1260 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  129. Hanski, I. et al. Environmental biodiversity, human microbiota, and allergy are interrelated. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 8334–8339 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  130. Blaser, M. J. Disappearing microbiota: Helicobacter pylori protection against esophageal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Prev. Res. (Phila.) 1, 308–311 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  131. Blaser, M. J. & Falkow, S. What are the consequences of the disappearing human microbiota?. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 7, 887–894 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  132. Rook, G. A. W., Martinelli, R. & Brunet, L. R. Innate immune responses to mycobacteria and the downregulation of atopic responses. Curr. Opin. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 3, 337–342 (2003).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  133. Moore v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 249 Cal. Rptr. 494 (Cal. Ct. App. 1988); rev'd, 793 P.2d 479 (Cal. 1990).

Download references

Acknowledgements

M.H.-D. thanks the organizers and faculty of the 2018 Sherwin B. Nuland Summer Institute in Bioethics at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, where some of the ideas in this paper were initially developed.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Matthew Z. Anderson

    Present address: Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Matilda Handsley-Davis & Laura S. Weyrich

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    Matilda Handsley-Davis, Emma Kowal & Laura S. Weyrich

  3. Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Matthew Z. Anderson

  4. Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Matthew Z. Anderson

  5. Center for Genomic Science Innovation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Matthew Z. Anderson

  6. Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Alyssa C. Bader

  7. Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Hanareia Ehau-Taumaunu

  8. Department of Anthropology, Global Health Program, and Indigenous Futures Institute, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Keolu Fox

  9. Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Emma Kowal

  10. Department of Anthropology and Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Laura S. Weyrich

Authors
  1. Matilda Handsley-Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew Z. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alyssa C. Bader
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hanareia Ehau-Taumaunu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Keolu Fox
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Emma Kowal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Laura S. Weyrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.H.-D. led the research and the drafting and revision of the paper. M.Z.A. contributed to the drafting of the paper and provided critical feedback and revisions. A.C.B. provided critical feedback and revisions. H.E.-T. visualized the data and provided critical feedback and revisions. K.F. contributed to the drafting of the paper and provided critical feedback and revisions. E.K. provided critical feedback and revisions. L.S.W. supported the conception and drafting of the paper and provided critical feedback and revisions. All authors approved the submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura S. Weyrich.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

All authors, excluding H.E.-T., are currently or formerly involved in activities of the international SING Consortium, an initiative aiming to address the under-representation of Indigenous peoples in genomic research through workshops supporting Indigenous leadership and engagement in genomics. Specifically, E.K. is a current member of the SING Australia Organising Committee; M.H.-D. and L.S.W. are former members of this committee; M.Z.A. is a member of the organizing group for SING USA; A.C.B. and K.F. are current members of the SING USA faculty; and A.C.B. is a past SING workshop participant. M.Z.A. and K.F. are also members of the Board of the Native BioData Consortium, an Indigenous-led non-profit biobank and research institute based on the Cheyenne River Reservation in the United States. The Native BioData Consortium focuses on genomic research to benefit Native American health as well as Indigenous data sovereignty and educational initiatives, including the IndigiData workshop.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Microbiology thanks Erika Szymanski and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Handsley-Davis, M., Anderson, M.Z., Bader, A.C. et al. Microbiome ownership for Indigenous peoples. Nat Microbiol 8, 1777–1786 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01470-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01470-3

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology