Dasari Mauna R, Roche Kimberly E, Jansen David, Anderson Jordan, Alberts Susan C, Tung Jenny, Gilbert Jack A, Blekhman Ran, Mukherjee Sayan, Archie Elizabeth A
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, United States.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States.
Elife. 2025 Apr 17;13:RP102166. doi: 10.7554/eLife.102166.
Mammalian gut microbiomes are highly dynamic communities that shape and are shaped by host aging, including age-related changes to host immunity, metabolism, and behavior. As such, gut microbial composition may provide valuable information on host biological age. Here, we test this idea by creating a microbiome-based age predictor using 13,563 gut microbial profiles from 479 wild baboons collected over 14 years. The resulting 'microbiome clock' predicts host chronological age. Deviations from the clock's predictions are linked to some demographic and socio-environmental factors that predict baboon health and survival: animals who appear old-for-age tend to be male, sampled in the dry season (for females), and have high social status (both sexes). However, an individual's 'microbiome age' does not predict the attainment of developmental milestones or lifespan. Hence, in our host population, gut microbiome age largely reflects current, as opposed to past, social and environmental conditions, and does not predict the pace of host development or host mortality risk. We add to a growing understanding of how age is reflected in different host phenotypes and what forces modify biological age in primates.
哺乳动物的肠道微生物群是高度动态的群落，它们塑造宿主衰老，同时也受到宿主衰老的影响，包括宿主免疫、代谢和行为方面与年龄相关的变化。因此，肠道微生物组成可能提供有关宿主机体年龄的有价值信息。在此，我们通过利用14年间收集的479只野生狒狒的13563份肠道微生物谱创建一个基于微生物群的年龄预测器来验证这一想法。所得的“微生物群时钟”可预测宿主的实际年龄。与该时钟预测结果的偏差与一些预测狒狒健康和生存的人口统计学及社会环境因素有关：看起来比实际年龄老的动物往往是雄性（对于雌性而言，是在旱季采集样本），并且具有较高的社会地位（两性皆是如此）。然而，个体的“微生物群年龄”并不能预测发育里程碑的达成或寿命。因此，在我们的宿主群体中，肠道微生物群年龄在很大程度上反映的是当前而非过去的社会和环境状况，并且不能预测宿主的发育速度或宿主死亡风险。我们增进了对年龄如何在不同宿主表型中体现以及哪些因素改变灵长类动物生物学年龄的理解。
