The diversity and composition of the human gut lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacterial microbiota vary depending on age

Aging is associated with gut microbiota alterations, characterized by changes in intestinal microbial diversity and composition. However, no study has yet focused on investigating age-related changes in the low-abundant but potentially beneficial subpopulations of gut lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Bifidobacterium. Our study found that the subjects' age correlated negatively with the alpha diversity of the gut bifidobacterial microbiota, and such correlation was not observed in the gut LAB subpopulation. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and analysis of distribution of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) revealed that the structure and composition of the gut bifidobacterial subpopulation of the longevous elderly group were rather different from that of the other three age groups. The same analyses were applied to identify age-dependent characteristics of the gut LAB subpopulation, and the results revealed that the gut LAB subpopulation of young adults was significantly different from that of all three elderly groups. Our study identified several potentially beneficial bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum) that were enriched in the longevous elderly group (P < 0.05), and the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium adolescentis decreased significantly with the increase in age (P < 0.05). Although both bifidobacteria and LAB are generally considered as health-promoting taxa, their age-dependent distribution varied from each other, suggesting their different life stage changes and potentially different functional roles. This study provided novel species-level gut bifidobacterial and LAB microbiota profiles of a large cohort of subjects and identified several age-or longevity-associated features and biomarkers. KEY POINTS: • The alpha diversity of the gut bifidobacterial microbiota decreased with age, while LAB did not change. • The structure and composition of the gut bifidobacterial subpopulation of the longevous elderly group were rather different from that of the other three age groups. • Several potentially beneficial bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum) that were enriched in the longevous elderly group.