The diversity and composition of the human gut lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacterial microbiota vary depending on age

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 105; no. 21-22; pp. 8427 - 8440
• Main Authors: Ma, Teng, Yao, Caiqing, Shen, Xin, Jin, Hao, Guo, Zhuang, Zhai, Qixiao, Yu-Kwok, Lai, Zhang, Heping, Sun, Zhihong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Age composition; Age groups; Aging; Analysis; Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology; Bacteria; Bifidobacterium; Bifidobacterium adolescentis; Bifidobacterium breve; Bifidobacterium longum; Biological diversity; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Composition; Digestive system; elderly; Gastrointestinal tract; Genetic aspects; Geriatrics; Health promotion; humans; Identification and classification; Intestinal microflora; intestinal microorganisms; intestines; Lactic acid; Lactic acid bacteria; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; multidimensional scaling; Older people; Probiotics; Relative abundance; species diversity; Subpopulations; Young adults; China; Gut microbiota; SMRT sequencing; Lactic acid bacteria; Longevity
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-021-11625-z

Aging is associated with gut microbiota alterations, characterized by changes in intestinal microbial diversity and composition. However, no study has yet focused on investigating age-related changes in the low-abundant but potentially beneficial subpopulations of gut lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Bifidobacterium . Our study found that the subjects’ age correlated negatively with the alpha diversity of the gut bifidobacterial microbiota, and such correlation was not observed in the gut LAB subpopulation. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and analysis of distribution of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) revealed that the structure and composition of the gut bifidobacterial subpopulation of the longevous elderly group were rather different from that of the other three age groups. The same analyses were applied to identify age-dependent characteristics of the gut LAB subpopulation, and the results revealed that the gut LAB subpopulation of young adults was significantly different from that of all three elderly groups. Our study identified several potentially beneficial bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum ) that were enriched in the longevous elderly group ( P  < 0.05), and the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium adolescentis decreased significantly with the increase in age ( P  < 0.05). Although both bifidobacteria and LAB are generally considered as health-promoting taxa, their age-dependent distribution varied from each other, suggesting their different life stage changes and potentially different functional roles. This study provided novel species-level gut bifidobacterial and LAB microbiota profiles of a large cohort of subjects and identified several age-or longevity-associated features and biomarkers. Key points • The alpha diversity of the gut bifidobacterial microbiota decreased with age , while LAB did not change. • The structure and composition of the gut bifidobacterial subpopulation of the longevous elderly group were rather different from that of the other three age groups. • Several potentially beneficial bacteria (e.g. , Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum) that were enriched in the longevous elderly group. Graphical abstract