The composition and function of the human gut microbiota has been linked to health and disease. We previously identified correlations between habitual diet, microbiota composition gradients and health gradients in an unstratified cohort of 178 elderly subjects. To refine our understanding of diet-microbiota associations and differential taxon abundance, we adapted an iterative bi-clustering algorithm (iterative binary bclustering of gene sets (iBBiG)) and applied it to microbiota composition data from 732 faecal samples from 371 ELDERMET cohort subjects, including longitudinal samples. We thus identified distinctive microbiota configurations associated with ageing in both community and long-stay residential care elderly subjects. Mixed-taxa populations were identified that had clinically distinct associations. Microbiota temporal instability was observed in both community-dwelling and long-term care subjects, particularly in those with low initial microbiota diversity. However, the stability of the microbiota of subjects had little impact on the directional change of the microbiota as observed for long-stay subjects who display a gradual shift away from their initial microbiota. This was not observed in community-dwelling subjects. This directional change was associated with duration in long-stay. Changes in these bacterial populations represent the loss of the health-associated and youth-associated microbiota components and gain of an elderly associated microbiota. Interestingly, community-associated microbiota configurations were impacted more by the use of antibiotics than the microbiota of individuals in long-term care, as the community-associated microbiota showed more loss but also more recovery following antibiotic treatment. This improved definition of gut microbiota composition patterns in the elderly will better inform the design of dietary or antibiotic interventions targeting the gut microbiota.
Pubmed ID: 26090993 RIS Download
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Latest publications: ELDERMET research has recently been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). This work focuses on the composition and stability of the intestinal bacteria in older Irish adults. Read the paper here. Would you like to be part of ELDERMET? We are currently looking for people, aged 65 years or older, living in the community. All we ask is that you live in the Cork area, or are willing to travel to Cork, and have recently (within the last two/three weeks) taken any kind of antibiotic. It doesnt matter if you are still taking the antibiotic, as long as the finishing date isnt more than four weeks before your first visit to ELDERMET. ELDERMET Objectives To assess the composition of the faecal microbiota of elderly volunteers in the Irish population, using state-of-the-art molecular techniques. To correlate diversity, composition, and metabolic potential of the faecal microbial metagenome with health, diet and lifestyle indices that are a) likely to be influenced by the microbiota or b) to influence the microbiota. To develop recommendations for specific dietary ingredients, foodstuffs, functional foods and/or dietary supplements, that will improve the health of elderly consumers. To provide evidence-based recommendations for prospective studies to determine the molecular mechanisms for health improvements promoted by specific food ingredients that modulate components of the microbiota. ELDERMET Rationale The human intestinal microbiota is made up of approximately 1000 genetically unique organisms (phylotypes ) [1]. The bacteria present in the intestine make an important contribution to: metabolism executed in the gut [2] health, in diverse activites from pain perception [3] to cognitive function [4]. There is an increasing body of evidence linking alterations in the human gut microbiota with Inflammatory Bowel Disease [5, 6] and Irritable Bowel Syndrome [7]. The changing pattern of the gut microbiota in elderly subjects [8, 9] may be linked to host changes such as immunosenescence, increased susceptibility to disease and potentially systemic effects. The composition of the intestinal microbiota may be modulated by dietary components including prebiotics [10]. ELDERMET will determine the baseline composition of the gut microbiota of several hundred elderly Irish subjects using a combination of traditional culutre and molecular (culture-independent) methodologies. ELDERMET will explore potential correlations between microbiota composition and a range of health indices; cross-referencing data to dietary intake. Data will be analyzed in the context of the related FHRI projects in Nutrigenomics, Food Consumption, Food Safety, and Diet-Health. ELDERMET will provide recommendations to all stakeholders (including health practitioners and the health service, the food industry and the general public) on how to improve health based on defined modifications to dietary intake. Sponsor. This work is supported by the Goverment of Ireland Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food/Health Research Board Food for Health Research Initiative award to the ELDERMET project as well as by a Science Foundation Ireland award to the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre. M.J.C. is now funded by a fellowship from the Health Research Board of Ireland.
View all literature mentionsDatabase of biological data related to a single initiative, originating from a single organization or from a consortium. A BioProject record provides users a single place to find links to the diverse data types generated for that project. It is a searchable collection of complete and incomplete (in-progress) large-scale sequencing, assembly, annotation, and mapping projects for cellular organisms. Submissions are supported by a web-based Submission Portal. The database facilitates organization and classification of project data submitted to NCBI, EBI and DDBJ databases that captures descriptive information about research projects that result in high volume submissions to archival databases, ties together related data across multiple archives and serves as a central portal by which to inform users of data availability. BioProject records link to corresponding data stored in archival repositories. The BioProject resource is a redesigned, expanded, replacement of the NCBI Genome Project resource. The redesign adds tracking of several data elements including more precise information about a project''''s scope, material, and objectives. Genome Project identifiers are retained in the BioProject as the ID value for a record, and an Accession number has been added. Database content is exchanged with other members of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC). BioProject is accessible via FTP.
View all literature mentionsTHIS RESOURCE IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE. Documented on February 23,2023.Software package for comparison and analysis of microbial communities, primarily based on high-throughput amplicon sequencing data, but also supporting analysis of other types of data. QIMME analyzes and transforms raw sequencing data generated on Illumina or other platforms to publication quality graphics and statistics.
View all literature mentionsSource code that infers approximately-maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees from alignments of nucleotide or protein sequences. It uses the Jukes-Cantor or generalized time-reversible (GTR) models of nucleotide evolution and the JTT, WAG, or LG models of amino acid evolution.
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