Project description:Age-dependent changes of the gut-associated microbiome have been linked to increased frailty and systemic inflammation. This study found that age-associated changes of the gut microbiome of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice could be reverted by co-housing of aged (22 months old) and adult (3 months old) mice for 30-40 days or faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from adult into aged mice. This was demonstrated using high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene isolated from faecal pellets collected from 3-4 months old adult and 22-23 months old aged mice before and after co-housing or FMT.
Project description:The gastrointestinal ecosystem is a highly complex environment with a profound influence on human health. Inflammation in the gut, linked to an altered gut microbiome has been associated with the development of multiple human conditions including type 1 diabetes (T1D). Viruses infecting the gastrointestinal tract, especially enteroviruses, are also thought to play an important role in T1D pathogenesis possibly via overlapping mechanisms. Here, we apply an integrative approach to combine comprehensive faecal virome, microbiome and metaproteome data sampled before and at the onset of islet autoimmunity in 40 children. We show strong age and antibody related effects across the datasets. Mastadenovirus infection was associated with profound functional changes in the faecal metaproteome. Multiomic factor analysis modelling revealed proteins associated with carbohydrate transport from the genus Faecalibacterium were associated with islet autoimmunity. These findings demonstrate functional remodelling of the gut microbiota accompanies both islet autoimmunity and viral infection.