Ageing trajectory of the gut microbiota is associated with metabolic diseases in a chronological age-dependent manner

We read with interest the recent article by Ng et al. (Gut, 2022; 71:910–8), who reported inhibition of the gut microbiota trajectory in patients with autism spectrum disorder.1 Similarly, the human gut microbiota ages in adults.2 3 Transplantation of gut microbes from elderly hosts, compared with their younger counterparts, deteriorates recipients’ age-related metabolic alternations.4 5 However, the gut microbiota in humans could differ in its pace of ageing, namely, accelerated or delayed microbiota ageing, even among those with similar chronological ages (figure 1A); this process is analogous to biological ageing.6 Therefore, we wondered whether the gut microbiota ageing trajectory could be used as a biomarker for metabolic diseases in adults. We analysed the gut microbiota compositions of 6376 participants of a population-level survey7 with Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME),8 among...

Source: Gut - June 7, 2023 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Fu, J., Qiu, W., Zheng, H., Qi, C., Hu, S., Wu, W., Wang, H., Wu, G., Cao, P., Ma, Z., Zheng, C., Ma, W.-J., Zhou, H.-W., He, Y. Tags: Open access, Gut PostScript Source Type: research