Abstract
Human body microbes interact with the host, forming microbial communities that are in continual flux during the aging process. Previous studies have mostly focused on surveying a single body habitat to determine the age-related variation in the bacterial and fungal communities. A more comprehensive understanding of the variation in the human microbiota and mycobiota across multiple body habitats related to aging is still unclear. To obtain an integrated view of the spatial distribution of microbes in a specific Mediterranean population across a wide age range, we surveyed the bacterial and fungal communities in the skin, oral cavity, and gut in the young, elderly, and centenarians in Sardinia using 16S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequencing. We found that the distribution and correlation of bacterial and fungal communities in Sardinians were largely determined by body site. In each age group, the bacterial and fungal communities found in the skin were significantly different in structure. In the oral cavity, age had a marginal impact on the structures of the bacterial and fungal communities. Furthermore, the gut bacterial communities in centenarians clustered separately from those of the young and elderly, while the fungal communities in the gut habitat could not be separated by host age. IMPORTANCE Site-specific microbial communities are recognized as important factors in host health and disease. To better understand how the human microbiota potentially affects and is affected by its host during the aging process, the fundamental issue to address is the distribution of microbiota related to age. Here, we show an integrated view of the spatial distribution of microbes in a specific Mediterranean population (Sardinians) across a wide age range. Our study indicates that age plays a critical role in shaping the human microbiota in a habitat-dependent manner. The dynamic age-related microbiota changes we observed across multiple body sites may provide possibilities for modulating microbe communities to maintain or improve health during aging.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e00558 |
| Journal | mSphere |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful to Nikki Kelvin for editorial comments and assistance. Funding support was provided by LKSF (to D.J.K.), the International Institute of Infection and Immunity, Shantou University Medical College (to D.J.K.), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation (to D.J.K.), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR, Italy) Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) 2015 (protocol 20157ATSLF_002), and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Flagship InterOmics (code PB05) (to C.C. and A.Z.), and an NSERC discovery grant (to M.G.I.L.). D.J.K. is a recipient of a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Vaccinology and Inflammation. L.W., S.R., D.J.K., and C.C. developed the study concept and design; L.W. and C.C. collected samples and acquired the data; L.W. performed data analysis; M.D., T.Z., A.Z., and L.M. contributed reagents, materials, and analysis tools; and L.W., M.G.I.L., and D.J.K. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. We declare no competing financial, professional, or personal interests that might have influenced the performance or presentation of the described work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wu et al.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Microbiology
- Molecular Biology
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
