Influence of gender, age, and body mass index on the gut microbiota of individuals from South China

作者：Shenghui Li, Shao Fan, Yufang Ma, Chuan Xia, Qiulong Yan · 发表于：Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3389/fcimb.2024.1419884 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：Gut microbiota and health、Diet and metabolism studies、Dietary Effects on Health

Background The symbiotic gut microbiota is pivotal for human health, with its composition linked to various diseases and metabolic disorders. Despite its significance, there remains a gap in systematically evaluating how host phenotypes, such as gender, age, and body mass index (BMI), influence gut microbiota. Methodology/principal findings We conducted an analysis of the gut microbiota of 185 Chinese adults based on whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing of fecal samples. Our investigation focused on assessing the effects of gender, age, and BMI on gut microbiota across three levels: diversity, gene/phylogenetic composition, and functional composition. Our findings suggest that these phenotypes have a minor impact on shaping the gut microbiome compared to enterotypes, they do not correlate significantly within- or between-sample diversity. We identified a substantial number of phenotype-associated genes and metagenomic linkage groups (MLGs), indicating variations in gut microflora composition. Specifically, we observed a decline in beneficial Firmicutes microbes, such as Eubacterium , Roseburia , Faecalibacterium and Ruminococcus spp., in both older individuals and those with higher BMI, while potentially harmful microbes like Erysipelotrichaceae , Subdoligranulum and Streptococcus spp. increased with age. Additionally, Blautia and Dorea spp. were found to increase with BMI, aligning with prior research. Surprisingly, individuals who were older or overweight exhibited a lack of...