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Epidemiology and Population Health

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

International Journal of Obesity volume 46, pages 1918–1924 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

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.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

H-WD was partially supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health [U19AG05537301, R01AR069055, P20GM109036, R01MH104680, R01AG061917, U54MD007595]. H-MX was partially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC1001100 and 2016YFC1201805). JS was partially supported by grants from the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China [201604020007], and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81770878].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for System Biology, Data Sciences, and Reproductive Health, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, 172 Tongzipo Road, Yuelu District, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, PR China

    Wen-Di Shen, Hui-Min Liu, Bo-Yang Li, Xiang Qiu, Wan-Qiang Lv, Xue-Zhen Zhu & Hong-Mei Xiao

  2. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510630, China

    Xu Lin & Rui-Ke Liu

  3. Tulane Center of Biomedical Informatics and Genomics, Deming Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Jonathan Greenbaum & Hong-Wen Deng

  4. Shunde Hospital of Southern Medical University (The First People’s Hospital of Shunde), No.1 of Jiazi Road, Lunjiao, Shunde District, Foshan, 528300, Guangdong, China

    Jie Shen

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Contributions

H-WD designed the study protocol and directed all parts of the project. JS, XL, R-KL and X-ZZ performed clinical diagnosis and recruited subjects. XL, H-ML and B-YL contributed to the data analysis. W-DS conducted data analysis and drafted the first edition of the document. H-WD revised, rewrote/re-structured some sections and finalized the manuscript. H-MX and JS provided support and constructive criticism in the study. JG, H-ML, XL, W-QL, XQ, and B-YL contributed to text revision and discussion.

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Correspondence to Hong-Mei Xiao or Hong-Wen Deng.

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Shen, WD., Lin, X., Liu, HM. et al. Gut microbiota accelerates obesity in peri-/post-menopausal women via Bacteroides fragilis and acetic acid. Int J Obes 46, 1918–1924 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-022-01137-9

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