Age-Related Variation of Bacterial and Fungal Communities in Different Body Habitats across the Young, Elderly, and Centenarians in Sardinia

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• 16S rRNA sequencing
• ITS1 sequencing
• Sardinian
• aging
• gut microbiota
• human microbiome