Skip to main content
  • ASM Journals
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems
  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Latest Articles
    • COVID-19 Research and News from ASM Journals
    • mSphere of Influence: Commentaries from Early Career Microbiologists
    • Archive
  • Topics
    • Applied and Environmental Science
    • Clinical Science and Epidemiology
    • Ecological and Evolutionary Science
    • Host-Microbe Biology
    • Molecular Biology and Physiology
    • Therapeutics and Prevention
  • For Authors
    • Getting Started
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections, Retractions
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Publication Fees
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About mSphere
    • Editor in Chief
    • Board of Editors
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
  • ASM Journals
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems

User menu

  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
mSphere
publisher-logosite-logo

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Latest Articles
    • COVID-19 Research and News from ASM Journals
    • mSphere of Influence: Commentaries from Early Career Microbiologists
    • Archive
  • Topics
    • Applied and Environmental Science
    • Clinical Science and Epidemiology
    • Ecological and Evolutionary Science
    • Host-Microbe Biology
    • Molecular Biology and Physiology
    • Therapeutics and Prevention
  • For Authors
    • Getting Started
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections, Retractions
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Publication Fees
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About mSphere
    • Editor in Chief
    • Board of Editors
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
Research Article | Host-Microbe Biology

The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young

Gaorui Bian, Gregory B. Gloor, Aihua Gong, Changsheng Jia, Wei Zhang, Jun Hu, Hong Zhang, Yumei Zhang, Zhenqing Zhou, Jiangao Zhang, Jeremy P. Burton, Gregor Reid, Yongliang Xiao, Qiang Zeng, Kaiping Yang, Jiangang Li
Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, Editor
Gaorui Bian
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Gregory B. Gloor
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
b Departments of Biochemistry and of Applied Mathematics, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
c Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Aihua Gong
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Changsheng Jia
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Wei Zhang
d Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jun Hu
e Department of Orthopedics, Lanzhou Military General Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Hong Zhang
f Gansu Provincial People’s Armed Police Corps Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yumei Zhang
g School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Zhenqing Zhou
h Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Taicang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jiangao Zhang
i Wenci Hospital, Rugao, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jeremy P. Burton
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
c Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
j Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Gregor Reid
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
c Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
j Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yongliang Xiao
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Qiang Zeng
k Health Management Institute, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kaiping Yang
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
c Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
l Children’s Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
m Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
n Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jiangang Li
a Tianyi Health Sciences Institute (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown
Arizona State University
Roles: Editor
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00327-17
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

The microbiota of the aged is variously described as being more or less diverse than that of younger cohorts, but the comparison groups used and the definitions of the aged population differ between experiments. The differences are often described by null hypothesis statistical tests, which are notoriously irreproducible when dealing with large multivariate samples. We collected and examined the gut microbiota of a cross-sectional cohort of more than 1,000 very healthy Chinese individuals who spanned ages from 3 to over 100 years. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing results used a compositional data analysis paradigm coupled with measures of effect size, where ordination, differential abundance, and correlation can be explored and analyzed in a unified and reproducible framework. Our analysis showed several surprising results compared to other cohorts. First, the overall microbiota composition of the healthy aged group was similar to that of people decades younger. Second, the major differences between groups in the gut microbiota profiles were found before age 20. Third, the gut microbiota differed little between individuals from the ages of 30 to >100. Fourth, the gut microbiota of males appeared to be more variable than that of females. Taken together, the present findings suggest that the microbiota of the healthy aged in this cross-sectional study differ little from that of the healthy young in the same population, although the minor variations that do exist depend upon the comparison cohort.

IMPORTANCE We report the large-scale use of compositional data analysis to establish a baseline microbiota composition in an extremely healthy cohort of the Chinese population. This baseline will serve for comparison for future cohorts with chronic or acute disease. In addition to the expected difference in the microbiota of children and adults, we found that the microbiota of the elderly in this population was similar in almost all respects to that of healthy people in the same population who are scores of years younger. We speculate that this similarity is a consequence of an active healthy lifestyle and diet, although cause and effect cannot be ascribed in this (or any other) cross-sectional design. One surprising result was that the gut microbiota of persons in their 20s was distinct from those of other age cohorts, and this result was replicated, suggesting that it is a reproducible finding and distinct from those of other populations.

  • Copyright © 2017 Bian et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license .

View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Download PDF
Citation Tools
The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young
Gaorui Bian, Gregory B. Gloor, Aihua Gong, Changsheng Jia, Wei Zhang, Jun Hu, Hong Zhang, Yumei Zhang, Zhenqing Zhou, Jiangao Zhang, Jeremy P. Burton, Gregor Reid, Yongliang Xiao, Qiang Zeng, Kaiping Yang, Jiangang Li
mSphere Sep 2017, 2 (5) e00327-17; DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00327-17

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Print
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email

Thank you for sharing this mSphere article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from mSphere
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in mSphere.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young
Gaorui Bian, Gregory B. Gloor, Aihua Gong, Changsheng Jia, Wei Zhang, Jun Hu, Hong Zhang, Yumei Zhang, Zhenqing Zhou, Jiangao Zhang, Jeremy P. Burton, Gregor Reid, Yongliang Xiao, Qiang Zeng, Kaiping Yang, Jiangang Li
mSphere Sep 2017, 2 (5) e00327-17; DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00327-17
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Top
  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

KEYWORDS

16S rRNA gene sequencing
DNA sequencing
compositional data
cross-sectional study
gut microbiota
healthy aging
microbiota

Related Articles

Cited By...

About

  • About mSphere
  • Board of Editors
  • Policies
  • For Reviewers
  • For the Media
  • Embargo Policy
  • For Librarians
  • For Advertisers
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • FAQ
  • Permissions
  • Journal Announcements

Authors

  • ASM Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Author Warranty
  • Types of Articles
  • Getting Started
  • Ethics
  • Contact Us

Follow #mSphereJ

@ASMicrobiology

       

 

Website feedback

ASM Journals

ASM journals are the most prominent publications in the field, delivering up-to-date and authoritative coverage of both basic and clinical microbiology.

About ASM | Contact Us | Press Room

 

ASM is a member of

Scientific Society Publisher Alliance

 

American Society for Microbiology
1752 N St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 737-3600

Copyright © 2021 American Society for Microbiology | Privacy Policy | Website feedback

Online ISSN: 2379-5042