Since the application of high-throughput technologies to investigate complex microbial communities, alterations in the human gut microbiota have been associated with an increasing number of diseases and conditions. This field of research has developed into an area of intense study which is quite different to the microbial investigations that have preceded it in terms of both the broadness of the area of research and the complexity of the analyses. In this review, we discuss gut microbiota changes observed in ageing in the context of the physiological changes that accompany senescence, examine what correlations can be established or inferred, and we discuss what key questions remain to be answered in the field. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2015, 7:131-138. doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1293 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Conflict of interest: PWOT is funded by a nonrestrictive research award from General Mills Inc.
© 2015 The Authors. WIREs Systems Biology and Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.