Table_2_Gut Microbiota Composition and Metabolic Potential of Long-Living People in China.xlsx

Individuals with naturally long-life spans have been extensively studied to gain a greater understanding of what factors contribute to their overall health and ability to delay or avoid certain diseases. Our previous work showed that gut microbiota can be a new avenue in healthy aging studies. In the present study, a total of 86 Chinese individuals were assigned into three groups: the long-living group (90 + years old; n = 28), the elderly group (65–75 years old; n = 31), and the young group (24–48 years old; n = 27). These groups were used to explore the composition and functional genes in the microbiota community by using the metagenomic sequencing method. We found that long-living individuals maintained high diversity in gene composition and functional profiles. Furthermore, their microbiota displays less inter-individual variation than that of elderly adults. In the taxonomic composition, it was shown that long-living people contained more short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria and a decrease in certain pathogenic bacteria. Functional analysis also showed that the long-living people were enriched in metabolism metabolites methanol, trimethylamine (TMA), and CO2 to methane, and lysine biosynthesis, but the genes related to riboflavin (vitamin B2) metabolism and tryptophan biosynthesis were significantly reduced in long-living individuals. Further, we found that long-living people with enriched SCFA- and lactic-producing bacteria and related genes, highly centered on producing key lactic acid genes (ldhA) and the genes of lysine that are metabolized to the butyrate pathway. In addition, we compared the gut microbiota signatures of longevity in different regions and found that the composition of the gut microbiota of the long-lived Chinese and Italian people was quite different, but both groups were enriched in genes related to methane production and glucose metabolism. In terms of SCFA metabolism, the Chinese long-living people were enriched with bacteria and genes related to butyric acid production, while the Italian long-living people were enriched with more acetic acid-related genes. These findings suggest that the gut microbiota of Chinese long-living individuals include more SCFA-producing bacteria and genes, metabolizes methanol, TMA, and CO2, and contains fewer pathogenic bacteria, thereby potentially contributing to the healthy aging of humans.

对长寿个体进行了广泛的研究，以深入了解哪些因素有助于他们的整体健康以及延缓或避免某些疾病的能力。我们先前的研究表明，肠道菌群可能是健康老龄化研究的新途径。在本研究中，共86名中国个体被分为三个组：长寿组（90岁以上；n = 28）、老年组（65-75岁；n = 31）和青年组（24-48岁；n = 27）。这些组别被用于通过宏基因组测序方法探索微生物群落中的组成和功能基因。我们发现，长寿个体在基因组成和功能特征上保持了高度的多样性。此外，他们的菌群在个体间差异方面比老年成人要小。在分类组成方面，研究表明，长寿人群含有更多的短链脂肪酸（SCFA）产生细菌，并减少了某些致病细菌。功能分析还显示，长寿人群在代谢代谢物甲醇、三甲胺（TMA）和二氧化碳转化为甲烷，以及赖氨酸生物合成方面富集，但与核黄素（维生素B2）代谢和色氨酸生物合成相关的基因在长寿个体中显著减少。进一步地，我们发现具有富集的SCFA和乳酸产生细菌及其相关基因的长寿个体，高度集中于产生关键乳酸酸基因（ldhA）和代谢为丁酸途径的赖氨酸基因。此外，我们比较了不同地区长寿人群的肠道菌群特征，发现长寿的中国人和意大利人的肠道菌群组成相当不同，但两组人群在涉及甲烷生产和葡萄糖代谢的基因上都富集。在SCFA代谢方面，中国长寿人群富含与丁酸生产相关的细菌和基因，而意大利长寿人群富含更多与乙酸相关的基因。这些发现表明，中国长寿个体的肠道菌群包含更多SCFA产生细菌和基因，代谢甲醇、TMA和CO2，并含有较少的致病细菌，从而可能有助于人类的健康老龄化。