(Press-News.org) Aging is a multifaceted process driven by interconnected biological mechanisms, among which genomic instability and telomere attrition stand as primary hallmarks. Emerging research underscores the pivotal role of the human microbiome in modulating these processes, offering novel insights into aging and age-related diseases. This review synthesizes current evidence on how microbial dysbiosis accelerates aging by disrupting genomic integrity and telomere dynamics, while also exploring therapeutic strategies to promote healthy longevity.
Key Hallmarks of Aging
Aging is characterized by a decline in physiological resilience, marked by twelve interrelated hallmarks. Genomic instability, resulting from accumulated DNA damage, and telomere attrition, the progressive shortening of chromosomal protective caps, are central to cellular senescence. Other hallmarks, such as epigenetic alterations and mitochondrial dysfunction, interact with these processes, creating a complex network that drives aging.
Microbiome and Aging Mechanisms
The gut microbiota, a dynamic ecosystem, evolves with age and significantly impacts host health. Dysbiosis—microbial imbalance—triggers systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic dysfunction, exacerbating DNA damage and telomere shortening. Pathogenic bacteria like Helicobacter pylori and Fusobacterium nucleatum produce genotoxins and reactive oxygen species (ROS), impairing DNA repair mechanisms and accelerating chromosomal instability. Conversely, beneficial microbes, such as those producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), mitigate oxidative stress and inflammation, preserving telomere length.
Microbial Impact on Genomic Stability
Dysbiosis disrupts bile acid metabolism, generating harmful compounds like deoxycholic acid that induce DNA strand breaks. Commensal strains such as Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis secrete genotoxins (e.g., colibactin), directly damaging host DNA. Chronic inflammation from microbial imbalances further suppresses DNA repair efficiency, particularly in aging tissues. Studies in mice reveal that antibiotic treatments or fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) restore genomic stability by reducing inflammatory cytokines, highlighting the microbiome’s therapeutic potential.
Microbiome-Telomere Interplay
Telomeres, protected by the shelterin protein complex, shorten with each cell division. Dysbiosis accelerates this process via ROS overproduction and immune dysregulation. For instance, reduced SCFA levels in dysbiotic states diminish telomerase activity, critical for telomere maintenance. Clinical data link poor gut microbiota diversity to shorter telomeres, while centenarians exhibit microbial profiles rich in Akkermansia and Bifidobacterium, associated with anti-inflammatory effects and telomere preservation. Interventions like high-fiber diets or probiotics enhance SCFA production, slowing telomere attrition.
Centenarians: A Model of Microbial Resilience
Centenarians showcase unique gut microbiota characterized by high diversity and abundance of longevity-associated microbes. Okinawan and Sardinian centenarians, for example, harbor Akkermansia muciniphila and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which bolster gut barrier function and reduce systemic inflammation. These microbial communities correlate with enhanced metabolic health, reduced oxidative stress, and delayed telomere shortening, suggesting a causal role in extreme longevity.
Future Directions and Therapeutic Potential
Targeting the microbiome presents a promising avenue for anti-aging therapies. Clinical trials exploring anti-inflammatory agents (e.g., canakinumab), metformin, and FMT demonstrate improved genomic stability and telomere maintenance. Future research must unravel causal relationships between specific microbial taxa and aging hallmarks, while integrating the "meta-hallmark" framework to address aging’s systemic nature. Understanding gut-immune interactions and refining personalized microbiome interventions could revolutionize strategies to extend healthspan.
Conclusion
The microbiome emerges as a master regulator of aging, intricately linked to genomic instability and telomere attrition. By modulating inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic pathways, microbial communities either accelerate or decelerate aging processes. Harnessing this knowledge through dietary, probiotic, or pharmacological interventions offers transformative potential to mitigate age-related decline, paving the way for healthier, longer lives. This synergy between microbiome science and gerontology underscores the adage: to age well, one must first tend to their microbial allies.
Full text:
https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2472-0712/ERHM-2024-00045
The study was recently published in the Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine.
Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine (ERHM) publishes original exploratory research articles and state-of-the-art reviews that focus on novel findings and the most recent scientific advances that support new hypotheses in medicine. The journal accepts a wide range of topics, including innovative diagnostic and therapeutic modalities as well as insightful theories related to the practice of medicine. The exploratory research published in ERHM does not necessarily need to be comprehensive and conclusive, but the study design must be solid, the methodologies must be reliable, the results must be true, and the hypothesis must be rational and justifiable with evidence.
Follow us on X: @xiahepublishing
Follow us on LinkedIn: Xia & He Publishing Inc.
END
Could AI that thinks more like a human be more sustainable than today’s LLMs? The AI industry is dominated by large companies with deep pockets and a gargantuan appetite for energy to power their models’ mammoth computing needs. Data centers supporting AI already account for up to 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions. In a Perspective, Alvaro Velasquez and colleagues propose an alternative model: neurosymbolic AI, which would require far less computing power, creating opportunities for smaller players to enter the field and allowing society to enjoy the benefits of AI without the environmental costs. Neurosymbolic AI is built on data-driven neural ...
A research paper by scientists at Hefei University of Technology presented an intuition-guided deep reinforcement learning framework for soft tissue manipulation under unknown constraints.
The research paper, published on Apr. 14, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems.
Intraoperative soft tissue manipulation is a critical challenge in autonomous robotic surgery. Furthermore, the intricate in vivo environment surrounding the target soft tissues poses additional hindrances to autonomous robotic decision-making. Previous studies assumed the grasping point was known and the target deformation could be achieved. The constraints were assumed to be constant during the ...
A team of Mount Sinai surgeons has performed the first heart-liver-kidney triple organ transplants in New York. They successfully completed two of these complex surgeries on patients from Westchester County, who have since returned home and are making full recoveries.
Heart-liver-kidney transplants are extremely rare—only 58 have been done across the country since the United Network for Organ Sharing, the government agency that oversees transplantation, started tracking cases in 1987. The two procedures at The Mount Sinai Hospital, which took place on January 10 and March 8, were among only four to date in the ...
Sharks have been evolving for more than 450 million years, developing skeletons not from bone, but from a tough, mineralized form of cartilage. These creatures are more than just fast swimmers – they’re built for efficiency. Their spines act like natural springs, storing and releasing energy with each tailbeat, allowing them to move through the water with smooth, powerful grace.
Now, scientists are peering inside shark skeletons at the nanoscale, revealing a microscopic “sharkitecture” that helps these ancient apex predators withstand extreme physical demands of constant motion.
Using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography with detailed ...
Americans perceive small juries of content experts as the most legitimate moderators of potentially misleading content on social media, according to a survey, but perceive large, nationally representative or politically balanced juries with minimum knowledge qualifications as comparably legitimate. Social media content moderation policies tend to attract criticism, with some calling for more aggressive removal of harmful and misleading content and others decrying moderation as censorship and accusing expert moderators of being politically biased. Less clear is what the general public would like to see in terms of content ...
A Perspective proposes a pathway to improvements in sustainability of marine ecosystems and resources in China. Based on environmental accounting used in China’s terrestrial ecosystems, the approach would implement policy and governance to ensure accountability for sustainable use of marine systems. Laurence J. McCook and colleagues argue that the ecosystem goods and services provided to the nation by oceans and coastal ecosystems—including seagrass beds, salt marshes, coral reefs, and mangrove forests—are ...
A drug used to treat type 2 diabetes may also be effective in slowing the progression of prostate cancer. This is shown by an international study in which researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, have participated. The researchers have found that drugs that regulate a particular protein have a key role in reducing prostate cancer recurrence among diabetic patients.
"This is a significant discovery. For the first time, we have clinical observations showing that prostate cancer patients with diabetes who received drugs targeting the protein remained relapse-free during the period we followed them," ...
New cases of dementia in the United States declined from 2015 to 2021, but the number of people living with the condition continued to rise due to population ageing, with nearly 2.9 million traditional Medicare beneficiaries (around 12%) living with a dementia diagnosis in 2021, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
What’s more, a greater burden of dementia was seen in marginalized and low resource communities, highlighting the importance of policy approaches to promote equitable dementia care, say the ...
TEMPE, Ariz. — The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare today, May 19, 2025, asking for an investigation of Arizona State University’s use of animals to study the effects of dietary supplements on adults with Down syndrome.
“Arizona State University cannot justify its use of mice to study a common nutrient that could be easily and ethically studied in consenting human volunteers,” the complaint says. “These uses of animals run afoul of the ...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital leukemia researcher Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD, senior deputy director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
Mullighan was selected to join the Royal Society for his trailblazing contributions to genomic research, which have advanced the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of acute leukemia, notably childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia ...
