Abstract
Gut microbiota composition and functionality are closely linked to host health. In this study, the fecal microbiota and bifidobacterial communities of 111 healthy volunteers from four regions of China of varying age profiles (Child, 1–5 years; Young, 18–50 years; Elder, 60–80 years; Longevity, ≥90 years) were investigated via high-throughput sequencing. Canonical analysis revealed that the gut microbiota, as well as bifidobacteria profiles of the subjects, clustered according to their regions and age. Eight genera were shared among all subjects, however, certain genera distributed differently in subjects grouped by region and age. Faecalibacterium was enriched in samples from Zhongxiang, unclassified Ruminococcaceae and Christensenellaceae were enriched in the Longevity group, and Bifidobacterium was enriched in Child. Within Bifidobacterium, B. longum was the most abundant species in almost all samples except for Child, in which B. pseudocatenulatum was the most abundant. Additionally, the abundances of B. adolescentis and B. dentium were lower in Child. In conclusion, our results suggest that geography and age affect the structure of the gut microbiota, as well as Bifidobacterium composition, and this variation may greatly associate with the metabolic and immune changes that occur during the process of aging.
Highlights
The human gut microbiota is an extremely complex ecosystem with a biomass of 0.15 kg dry weight [1] and comprises trillions of microorganisms, which are intricately linked to human physiology and health [2]
By high-throughput sequencing, we analyzed the gut microbiota and Bifidobacterium composition of volunteers living in four regions in China with different ages
The results indicate that eight genera are shared by all the samples, but there were genera that distributed differently in samples grouped by region and age
Summary
The human gut microbiota is an extremely complex ecosystem with a biomass of 0.15 kg dry weight [1] and comprises trillions of microorganisms, which are intricately linked to human physiology and health [2]. With the development of sequencing technologies, culture-independent approaches based on next-generation sequencing have been widely used as powerful tools to detect the gut microbiota or bifidobacterial community of individuals [25] This has been largely based on marker gene metagenomics, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, which is widely used for bacterial compositional analysis. Our laboratory has developed a high-throughput sequencing method for the detection of Bifidobacterium species based on the groEL gene, which can assess the diversity of bifidobacterial composition to species-level [28] Using both approaches (16S rRNA gene sequencing and groEL gene sequencing) in this study, we assessed the influence of geography and age on the structure of the gut microbiota and composition of Bifidobacterium. By using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing technology, we uncovered the properties of the gut microbiota and Bifidobacterium composition in fecal samples of individuals from different regions and of different ages
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