Gut microbiota accelerates obesity in peri-/post-menopausal women via Bacteroides fragilis and acetic acid

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2022-10, Vol.46 (10), p.1918-1924
• Main Authors: Shen, Wen-Di, Lin, Xu, Liu, Hui-Min, Li, Bo-Yang, Qiu, Xiang, Lv, Wan-Qiang, Zhu, Xue-Zhen, Greenbaum, Jonathan, Liu, Rui-Ke, Shen, Jie, Xiao, Hong-Mei, Deng, Hong-Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 45/23; 45/43; 692/163/2743/2037; 692/699/2743/393; Acetic Acid; Animal research; Association analysis; Bacteroides fragilis; Bacteroides fragilis - physiology; Correlation analysis; Epidemiology; Fatty acids; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Gene sequencing; Genomes; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Intestinal microflora; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Menopause; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolomics; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Obesity; Pathogenesis; Post-menopause; Postmenopause; Public Health; Regression analysis; Serum levels; Therapeutic targets; Whole genome sequencing
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/s41366-022-01137-9

Objective Many animal experiments and epidemiological studies have shown that the gut microbiota (GM) plays an important role in the development of obesity, but the specific biological mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of disease remain unknown. We aimed to examine the relationships and functional mechanisms of GM on obesity in peri- and post-menopausal women. Methods We recruited 499 Chinese peri- and post-menopausal women and performed comprehensive analyses of the gut microbiome, targeted metabolomics for short-chain fatty acids in serum, and host whole-genome sequencing by various association analysis methods. Results Through constrained linear regression analysis, we found that an elevated abundance of Bacteroides fragilis (B. fragilis) was associated with obesity. We also found that serum levels of acetic acid were negatively associated with obesity, and that B. fragilis was negatively associated with serum acetic acid levels by partial Spearman correlation analysis. Mendelian randomization analysis indicated that B. fragilis increases the risk of obesity and may causally down-regulate acetic acid levels. Conclusions We found the gut with B. fragilis may accelerate obesity, in part, by suppressing acetic acid levels. Therefore, B. fragilis and acetic acid may represent important therapeutic targets for obesity intervention in peri- and post-menopausal women.