Return to David's theory of evolution and theodicy (Evolution)

by David Turell , Thursday, July 27, 2023, 19:19 (275 days ago) @ David Turell

Centenarian's bugs help define the true meaning of bacteria as good, not evil:

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/gut-bugs-may-help-centenarians-reach-their-1...

"In research published in Nature, Kenya Honda, a microbiologist and immunologist at Keio University School of Medicine, and his colleagues showed that a clue to centenarians’ long lives may be in their guts. Microbes that produce unique bile acids in the intestines of 100-year-olds may keep inflammation and aging-related illness at bay.

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"Individuals who make it past their 100th birthdays are less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer, among other diseases that associate with aging. Honda suspected that external factors, such as the gut microbiota, might contribute to preventing the development of these age-related diseases in long-living individuals.

"The microbiome regulates bodily functions including digestion, bone density, neuronal activity, and immunity. Honda and his team aimed to identify beneficial bacteria from the microbiota of centenarians that might help others ward off infection and other stresses.

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"They also collected samples from elderly Japanese people around 85 years old and young people about 30 years old. Then they compared the microbiomes and metabolites between the cohorts.

"The team found that the microbiomes of centenarians differed from the other two groups. Centenarian microbiomes had more Proteobacteria and Synergistetes and fewer Actinobacteria species than microbiomes in the other two cohorts. But what Honda found much more intriguing were the results of a metagenome analysis, which revealed increased abundance of bile-acid-inducible genes in the 100-year-old-plus age group. Some bile acids play a role in host metabolic and immune responses, including blocking pathogens such as Clostridium difficile from colonizing the intestines.

"The chance of living to be 100 years old is not out of the question, but it’s certainly not guaranteed. Those who manage to celebrate their triple-numbered birthday are less susceptible to illness and chronic inflammation than those who don’t.

"In research published in Nature, Kenya Honda, a microbiologist and immunologist at Keio University School of Medicine, and his colleagues showed that a clue to centenarians’ long lives may be in their guts. Microbes that produce unique bile acids in the intestines of 100-year-olds may keep inflammation and aging-related illness at bay.

“'This was a unique study that allowed us to look at the microbiome at the extreme of aging,” said Ramnik Xavier, a gastroenterologist and molecular biologist at the Broad Institute and Harvard University, who authored the study with Honda. “Could we identify microbial features unique to centenarians and then use that to get to the biology?”

Comment: more evidence of how bacteria are here to help, not damage. A side effect is when tey are in the wrong environment and cause illness.