Browsing by Author "Ferrador, Liliane Miguel Dias Pinto"
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- The gut bacteriome and bacteroides spp. diversity in healthy ageingPublication . Ferrador, Liliane Miguel Dias Pinto; Faleiro, LeonorAgeing is essentially a biological process that leads to the malfunction of cells and organs, dysregulation of body systems, and generally, age-related illnesses that ultimately result in the individual's death. These age-related medical conditions can have several consequences for the organism affecting several systems in the body. One of the elements between disease and body response is the gut microbiota. Several factors can affect the microbiota composition, including age and health status. An important genus in the gut is Bacteroides and its abundance in the elderly have been targeted with different outcomes. Therefore, studying the alterations of the microbiome in the elderly population can constitute a valuable tool to help understand the non-healthy and healthy status of old individuals, and also establish interventions in the gut microbiota to promote health in the elderly people. In the current study, twelve faecal samples from 7 healthy and 5 non-healthy individuals aged between 60 and 90 years old, including individuals from both genders from the Algarve region were analysed regarding their bacteriome using the Oxford Nanopore system. The isolation of Bacteroides species was performed using the culture medium Bacteroides vulgatus Selective Agar (BVSA). Isolates from representative characteristic and uncharacteristic colonies were identified by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene and the Gram-negative isolates from uncharacteristic colonies were first identified using the RapID ONE system (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The individual bacteriome profile revealed that the phylum Firmicutes was prevalent in all samples except for one that showed the dominance of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The bacteriome pattern regarding the abundance of the different genera and species evidence a tendency for a unique pattern, but Oscillibacter valericigenes was abundant in the majority of the samples. Differences between gender were noticed, namely, the phylum Proteobacteria was more abundant in males, and several species were unique for each group. The results of the bacteriome profile according to the health status evidence that Bacteroides vulgatus (Phocaeicola vulgatus) was more abundant in the non-healthy group, whereas Prevotella copri was more abundant in the healthy group. It was possible to recover in culture the different Bacteroides species, even those reported at very low numbers in the bacteriome.