Scientists have identified hundreds of independent associations between genetic variants in gut bacteria and human health characteristics, including blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body mass index. The study was published in the journal Nature.
Researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands and other scientific institutions analyzed data from 10,781 people across six research cohorts. They examined approximately 12.7 million common genetic variants in bacteria from 433 species and compared them with 244 human traits and environmental factors.
The analysis identified 940 independent associations between bacterial genetic variants and human characteristics. Nearly two-thirds of these associations showed no significant dependence on the abundance of the corresponding bacteria in the gut. This suggests that understanding the role of the microbiome requires looking not only at the composition of the gut microbiota but also at genetic differences within individual bacterial species.
The largest number of associations was found with age. The researchers identified 99 independent signals across 42 bacterial species. In particular, five genetic variants of the bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were associated with a person's age. People whose samples contained a particular variant were, on average, approximately 4.9 years older.
The researchers suggested that these variants may affect the function of a protein involved in transporting glutathione, a substance that protects cells against oxidative stress. However, this mechanism has not yet been experimentally tested, and the observed association does not prove that bacterial variants influence the aging process.
The authors also identified associations between genetic variants in gut bacteria and metabolic, cardiovascular and hematological indicators. They believe the findings provide a foundation for further research into interactions between the microbiome and the human body.
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