Oral bacterium Neisseria flavescens promotes healthspan in worms and rejuvenates aged mice

In human profiling data, researchers identified the oral commensal bacterium Neisseria flavescens as a microbe associated with decelerated aging. Using a generative multi-modality framework named AURORA, the team built aging clocks to screen in silico for interventions that reduce biological age gaps. Computational perturbations linked higher Neisseria flavescens abundance to beneficial gut taxa, favorable physiology, and the synthesis of beneficial metabolites. The researchers isolated two strains and verified their metabolite production in the laboratory. Live Neisseria flavescens extended lifespan and healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans. Additionally, feeding heat-killed bacteria to aged mice shifted their liver transcriptome, serum metabolome, and gut microbiome toward younger states.