Can intestinal flora affect longevity
Chinese scientists give the latest answers!
Summary:
In April 2023, a national high-tech enterprise from Guangxi, Guangxi Aisheng Life Science and Technology***, together with the Guangxi Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou University, Guangxi University and the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, published a research result in the internationally renowned scientific journal Nature Aging, with Dr. Luo Weifei The research team led by Dr. Wang Shuai analyzed the intestinal microbiota of 297 centenarians in Guangxi, China, and found that centenarians have their own unique intestinal type, and the structure and diversity of intestinal microbiota are similar to those of young people. This article pioneered the connection between the longevity characterization of centenarians in China and the structure of intestinal microbiota, and laid a scientific theoretical foundation for the research on longevity, the development and utilization of longevity resources and the industrial transformation of China.
Nature sub-journal of Guangxi Academy of Sciences: centenarian microbiota has youth-related characteristics
The human gut microbiota plays an important role in the aging process and in the onset and progression of aging-related diseases (e.g., diabetes and cancer). Centenarians often show reduced susceptibility to chronic diseases and are a model for studying how the gut microbiota promotes healthy aging. The enrichment of certain senescence-related gut bacteria (e.g., Akmensian species and the Christenellaceae family) has been identified in centenarians. However, in these previous studies, limited sample sizes and lack of longitudinal designs may undermine their conclusions and interpretations. More evidence is needed to understand how the gut microbiota is linked to longevity.
The research team conducted a longitudinal study of the gut microbiome of 1,575 individuals (including 297 centenarians) from Guangxi, southern China, in an attempt to explore the aging patterns of the gut microbiota of centenarians and provide insights into whether the gut microbiota is associated with healthy aging in these individuals.
The research team analyzed the gut types of a large group of individuals aged 20-117 years and found that the gut microbiota of centenarians has characteristic advantages that are usually associated with younger individuals, gut microbiota, increased species uniformity of bacteroides, enrichment of potentially beneficial bacteroides, and reduction of potentially pathogenic organisms.
Centenarians exhibit a unique intestinal type
The research team collected stool samples and health information from centenarians and four other control individuals aged 20-85 and 90-99 years, and performed 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing to identify and characterize the gut microbiome. To further explore how the gut microbiota of centenarians develops with age, we designed a longitudinal study in which 45 centenarians were randomly selected from a cohort of 297 individuals with an interval of 1Stool samples were collected for 5 years to compare their microbial structure, composition, and diversity.
Four different gut types were identified from the gut microbiota of the study population, and centenarians exhibited a distinct gut type characterized by bacteroides species and Escherichia spp. (Escherichia spp. and Shigella spp). (Fig.) 1), respectively, predominates in young people (20-44 years old) and other older populations. We found that the gut microbiome characteristics of centenarians were structurally similar to those of younger people: an increase in species uniformity of overexpressing Bacteroides species (a measure of the proximity of the number of each species in a community (high uniformity indicates that species have similar abundance)), enrichment of potentially beneficial species in the phylum Bacteroidetes (now Bacteroidetes) and depletion of potentially pathogenic organisms (harmless symbionts that may become pathogens in some cases). Our findings also suggest that bacteroides, especially enterobacteroides that are rich in beneficial components, can serve as markers to distinguish centenarians from other older adults. For example, Bacteroides pleomorphe is essential for maintaining a stable and symbiotic relationship in the intestinal environment and is abundant in centenarians. Contrary to previous studies3 health conditions may bring some changes, but have no significant effect on the direction of change in microbiome characteristics between centenarians and other age groups. Our longitudinal study further reveals a microbiota pattern in centenarians that maintains or enhances youth-related traits of gut microbiota signatures during aging. Our large-scale transverse and longitudinal studies have identified the unique gut microbiome signatures of centenarians and suggest that these youth-related traits may contribute to healthy aging and longevity.
Centenarians exhibit a unique intestinal type
A cross-sectional survey of 1575 people (20-117 years old) including a cohort of 297 centenarians in Guangxi was included
Compared with the general elderly, centenarians showed over-representation of the intestinal type dominated by Bacteroides, increased species uniformity, enrichment of beneficial Bacteroides, and decrease in pathogenic bacteria in the gut microbiome
Long-lived individuals are the intestinal type dominated by bacteroides, and young and elderly are dominated by Escherichia coli Shigella;
The intestinal microbiological characteristics of centenarians were enhanced in terms of uniformity, small inter-individual variation and increased stability of Bacteroides
Centenarians with low microbial uniformity are prone to large microbiota instability during aging.
This study found that centenarians have a unique pattern of aging. The microbiome structure and higher diversity of microbiota exhibited in the gut microbiota composition were more similar to those of young people, and these younger-related signals were enhanced during the aging process of centenarians, which the research team believes are associated with longevity and may counteract aging or chronic diseases that often accompany aging.
References: 1] Pang, S, chen, x., lu, z. et al. longevity of centenarians isreflected by the gut microbiome with youth-associated signatures. nat aging (2023).