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. 2020 Dec 23;13(1):16. doi: 10.3390/nu13010016

Table 1.

Gut microbiota composition of the elderly (≥60 years old) and centenarians (≥99 years old).

Reference Subjects Methodological Approach Main Findings in Gut Microbiota Composition
[67] Biagi et al. 2010 84 subjects from Northern Italy (50F, 34M). Young adults (20–40 years old) (Y), elderly (60–80 years old) (E), centenarians group (99–104 years old) (C) and offspring of the centenarians (59–78 years old) (F) HITChip analysis and qPCR (16S rRNA) Elderly Centenarians

  • ↑ Akkermansia muciniphila

  • ↓ α-diversity index

  • ↑ facultative anaerobes from Proteobacteria phylum (E. coli, Haemophilus, K. pneumoniae or Pseudomonas) and Bacilli class (Bacillus or Staphylococcus)

  • ↓ Clostridium cluster XIVa

  • ↓ bifidobacteria

  • Rearrangement of Clostridium cluster IV (↓ Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and ↑ Clostridium leptum)
[58] Claesson et al. 2011 161 elderly Irish subjects (82F, 79M) (>65 years old) and a control group (5F, 4M) (28–46 years old) Pyrosequencing with 454 system (16S rRNA V4 region)

  • ↓ Firmicutes proportion

  • ↑ Clostridium cluster IV (specially, Faecalibacterium spp.)

  • ↓ Clostridium cluster XIVa
[72] Wang et al. 2015 24 volunteers from China (14F, 10M) classified in Group RC (100–108 years old), Group RE (85–99 years old) and Group CE (80–92 years old) Illumina MiSeq and qPCR (16S rRNA V4 region)

  • ↑ α-diversity in centenarians

  • ↑ Escherichia, Roseburia in centenarians

  • ↓ Lactobacillus, Butyricimonas, Coprococcus, Parabacteroides, Akkermansia, Sutterella, Faecalibacterium in centenarians
[76] Biagi et al. 2016 24 semi-supercentenarians (>105 years old, group S) (18F, 6M) vs. 15 young adults (22–48 years old, group Y) (8F, 7M) from Northern Italy. Results of C and E groups from Biagi et al. 2010 study were incorporated. Illumina MiSeq and qPCR (16S rRNA V3-V4 region) Elderly Centenarians

  • ↓ Bifidobacterium

  • ↓ Bifidobacterium in C

  • ↑ Bifidobacterium in S

  • ↓ Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcacea with age

  • ↑ Eggerthella, Bilophila, Akkermansia, Anaerotruncus, Christensenellaceae and Synergistaceae with age

[75] Kong et al. 2016 168 Chinese individuals (85F, 83M) grouped into long-living group (≥90 years old), elderly group (65–83 years old) and a younger age group (24–64 years old) Illumina MiSeq (16S rRNA V3-V4 region)

  • ↑ Clostridium cluster XIVa, Ruminococcaceae, Akkermansia and Christensenellaceae in long-living group

  • ↑ microbial diversity in long-living group
[64] Odamaki et al. 2016 367 Japanese volunteers between 0 and 104 years old (210F, 157M) Illumina MiSeq and qPCR (16S rRNA V3-V4 region) Elderly Centenarians
-

  • ↑ microbial diversity in centenarians

  • ↑ Bacteroidetes (Bacteroides and Clostridiaceae) and Proteobacteria (Betaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria) with age

  • ↓ Actinobacteria with age

  • ↑ Porphyromonas, Treponema, Fusobacterium and Pseudoramibacter with age

[68] Bian et al. 2017 A total of 1095 healthy Chinese volunteers (533F, 562M) classified into eight groups according to their age (children, adults, elderly, centenarians) Illumina MiSeq (16S rRNA V4 region) Elderly Centenarians

  • ↓ Blautia after 60 years old

  • ↑ Prevotella and Bacteroides in 60–79 years old group

  • ↓ Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium genera in the oldest groups vs. the youngest groups

  • ↓ Prevotella and Bacteroides in centenarians

  • ↑ Dorea, Clostridium insertae sedis, Clostridium sensu strictu 1, Marvinbryantia and members of Prevotella in older subjects vs. young groups

[66] Rahayu et al. 2019 80 Indonesian subjects (50F, 30M): young group (25–45 years old) and elderly group (≥70 years old) Yakult intestinal flora-scan (YIF-SCAN) (qPCR method)

  • ↓ microbiota concentration

  • ↑ Lactobacillus reuteri and Enterobacteriaceae

  • ↓ Clostridium cocoides, Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium leptum, Bifidobacterium, Prevotella and Lactobacillus plantarum
[73] Wang et al. 2019 187 elderly subjects from three groups of age (65–70 years old), (90–99 years old) and (100+ years old) from East China (120F, 67M) Illumina MiSeq (16S rRNA V3, V4 and V5 regions) Elderly Centenarians

  • ↑ Clostridium, Parabacteroides and Streptococcus in 90–99 years old group vs. 65–70 years old group

  • ↓ Megamonas, Blautia and Coprococcus in 90–99 years old group vs. 65–70 years old group

  • ↑ Bacteroides fragilis, Parabacteroides merdae, Ruminococcus gnavus, Coprococcus and Clostridium perfringens in 90–99 years old group

  • ↑ community richness (Ace and Chao1 index) in centenarians (90–99 years old and 100+ years old groups)

  • ↑ Ruminococaccaeae, Alistipes and Barnesiella in 100+ years old group vs. 65–70 years old group

  • ↓ Lachnospira and Prevotella in 100+ years old group vs. 65–70 years old group

  • ↑ Synergistetes, Verrucomicrobia and Proteobacteria in longevity group vs. younger elderly group
[74] Kim et al. 2019 56 South Korea subjects classified in centenarians (95–108 years old) (27F, 3M), elderly (67–79 years old) (7F, 10M) and adults (26–43 years old) (3F, 6M) Pyrosequencing with 454 system (16S rRNA V1–V3 regions) Elderly Centenarians

  • ↑ Proteobacteria in elderly vs. adults

  • ↓ Bacteroidetes in elderly vs. adults

  • ↑ Verrucomicrobia in centenarians vs. elderly

  • ↑ Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia in centenarians vs. adults

  • ↑ Akkermansia, Clostridium, Collinsella, Escherichia, Streptococcus and Christensenellaceae in centenarians vs. elderly and adults

  • ↓ Faecalibacterium and Prevotella in centenarians vs elderly and adults

F: female; M: male. Changes (↑: increase; ↓: decrease) in the relative abundance of selected microbial taxa and in bacterial diversity with age. Names in bold denote each group for the corresponding study and are defined in the table.